EU and Canada to deepen ties with new security pact

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — A Canadian service member is seen during a training exercise at Camp Ādaži, Latvia, March 10, 2024. (Canadian Armed Forces Photo by MCpl Genevieve Lapointe)

BRUSSELS  -  The European Union hosts Canada for a summit on Monday designed to deepen their already close ties as both face increased geopolitical threats, including a more hostile U.S. president, Russia and Middle East instability.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa, who chairs EU summits, will greet Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for a two-hour meeting in Brussels, a day before a NATO summit in the Hague.

EU officials said the EU-Canada summit was not a "business as usual" meeting and marked a new era in bilateral ties.

The two allies, who already have a free trade agreement, are due to agree to a security and defence partnership, the first the bloc has struck with a country from the Americas.

The partnership will involve joint work on crisis management, cyber, maritime and space security, arms control, as well as support for Ukraine, which Russia invaded more than three years ago.

It will also pave the way for Canadian companies to access the 150 billion euro ($172 billion) EU joint procurement programme SAFE.

The two partners are also expected to launch negotiations on a digital agreement designed to shape global rules for data, such as on e-signatures and consumer protection or limits on spam.

A draft of the joint statement refers to alignment of standards in digital regulation to make online platforms safer and more inclusive and AI systems more trustworthy, areas of regulation on which the United States has criticised the EU.

($1 = 0.8721 euros)

 (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, Editing by Franklin Paul // REUTERS)