Canada and the European Union have announced a new “Canada – EU Alliance for the Future” at their 21st summit in Montréal, setting out plans to deepen cooperation on trade, digital policy, energy, security and people-to-people links.
The alliance is framed around building what Canada and the EU described as a “common prosperity and economic security space”, with a focus on supply-chain resilience and closer alignment in selected industrial sectors, according to a joint statement, the European Council reported on Friday.
The leaders said their partnership already includes a wide-ranging free trade deal, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), alongside cooperation on areas including security and defence.
Among the new announcements, Canada and the EU said they have concluded substantive negotiations on a Digital Trade Agreement to complement CETA and set rules for digital trade, including cross-border data flows and legal certainty for businesses and consumers.
They also stated that Canada and the European Investment Bank have concluded negotiations on an agreement intended to facilitate European investment in critical Canadian resources, particularly critical raw materials.
A second-generation Competition Agreement has also been negotiated, designed to strengthen cooperation between competition authorities in tackling anti-competitive conduct, the statement said.
Security, Ukraine and border cooperation
The leaders reiterated support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, and said they would continue political, financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support, according to the joint statement.
They also said they would increase pressure on Russia and seek accountability for crimes committed in and against Ukraine, and would work for the return of prisoners of war, civilian detainees and unlawfully deported Ukrainian children.
Canada and the EU declared that they will accelerate implementation of their Security and Defence Partnership, including work on areas such as maritime security, space security, sanctions and hybrid threats — a term used for activities such as cyberattacks and disinformation.
A working arrangement has been agreed between Frontex — the EU’s border agency — and the Canada Border Services Agency, expanding a framework for operational cooperation on securing borders.
On energy, Canada and the EU said they will carry out a joint long-term feasibility study on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe, while stating this would be consistent with their climate commitments under the Paris Agreement.
The statement also said Canada is being welcomed into the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), which coordinates shared supercomputing resources in Europe, and that the two sides will strengthen cooperation on advanced computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Canada and the EU added that they will launch negotiations towards deeper participation in Erasmus+, the EU’s education and youth exchange programme, and will discuss steps to improve skills development and labour and researcher mobility.
The leaders said they plan to define by the 2027 Canada – EU Summit the concept of an “ever-closer association” of Canada to the EU, short of full membership, building on the existing Strategic Partnership Agreement.
