A firm agreement between the EU and Canada: Ottawa will also contribute to the loan to Kyiv

BRUSSELS – The innovative partnership agreement officially announced yesterday between the European Union and the Canadian government is packed with concrete implications, with the aim of establishing ‘the closest possible’ relationship between the two partners. Among other things, the parties announced that Ottawa will contribute to the €90 billion European loan package for the 2026–2027 period, which was approved by the European Union to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.

At a press conference in Montreal, European and Canadian leaders celebrated an unprecedented agreement. The President of the European Council, António Costa, described the agreement as ‘the closest, deepest and most unique possible’. For his part, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke of a ‘historic day’ in an increasingly divided world, announcing an upcoming joint meeting in March between the Canadian government and the College of Commissioners. ‘Our aim,’ reads the seven-page declaration signed in Montreal, ‘is to create unprecedented opportunities for our peoples and to achieve ambitious cooperation in the following areas: trade and regulatory cooperation; digital, research and communication technologies; critical raw materials and energy; financial services and markets; security and emergency preparedness; and people-to-people ties’.

The two partners intend to negotiate the details of the agreement signed yesterday over the coming months, ahead of a bilateral summit to be held in June. At a press conference, Prime Minister Carney emphasised the parties’ commitment to the mobility of researchers, specialists and students. He announced that Canada will join the European satellite communications and supercomputer programmes. Outstanding issues, such as Ottawa’s application of European rules on environmental tariffs and deforestation, have reportedly been resolved, he said, without providing further details. The two partners also intend to cooperate in the military sphere, in border protection, and in the defence and security industries. As mentioned, the parties announced that Canada will participate in the €90 billion loan that the European Union has pledged to Ukraine. For now, Ottawa’s contribution will be symbolic – 500 million euros – but it is politically significant because it underlines the nature of the new bilateral relationship. In this regard, President Costa spoke of a ‘strong message’.

More generally, the agreement has political and strategic significance. President Donald Trump’s aggressive foreign policy – he announced at the start of the year that he wished to annex both Canada and Greenland to the United States – has led to a clear rapprochement between Ottawa and Brussels, which, according to the statement published yesterday, are bound by shared principles such as ‘democracy, human rights, the rule of law, the international order and open, rules-based markets’.

In September, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had proposed to Ottawa that it become an ‘associate member’ of the Union. Some Member States rejected the idea, if only because the concept would have no legal basis in the European Treaties. The joint statement states that the parties’ aim is to create ‘an ever closer association’. In reality, the diplomatic stumbling block proved to be more semantic than political, to the extent that yesterday Prime Minister Carney described his country as ‘the first associate member’ of the European Union.