Canada Looks to Europe Beyond US

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is seeking closer ties with the European Union and diversifying the country’s foreign relations to reduce its dependence on the US. As part of this strategy, Ottawa is negotiating a financial contribution to a €90bn ($103.9bn) EU loan to Ukraine, the Financial Times reported.

Both sides hope to agree on the size of Canada’s contribution before the EU summit in Montreal in late October. Canada would become the second country outside the EU, after the United Kingdom, to contribute to the loan.

Since taking office, Carney has sought to bring together so-called middle powers and diversify Canada’s foreign relations. Ottawa is also set to join the EU’s supercomputing network for cooperation on artificial intelligence and sign a digital trade agreement with Brussels.

Behind the scenes, Carney has also proposed an ambitious “associated membership” model to the EU. However, EU officials have distanced themselves from the term, pointing out that Canada cannot obtain the same terms as countries such as Norway or Switzerland, which contribute to the EU budget in exchange for access to the European market.

Another obstacle is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which has still not been ratified by 10 of the EU’s 27 member states. Nevertheless, according to EU officials, Brussels is working toward the closest possible relationship with Canada.

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