The EU and Canada should be an alliance for the future.
As a member of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Canada, Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú is encouraged by the progress the EU and Canada are making to deepen their relationship.
She welcomes the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s invitation for Canada to join the EU as an associate member, and was equally encouraged by the address Prime Minister Carney gave in Strasbourg this week.
The Canadian Prime Minister highlighted several areas in which the EU and Canada could collaborate, specifically:
- Defence industrial capacity
- Trade
- Energy security
- Education
- Research
This week, Ní Mhurchú co-signed a letter written by Renew Europe President Valérie Hayer which was addressed to Commissioner for Trade & Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič. The letter highlighted several ways in which the EU-Canada partnership can be strengthened.
The Ireland South MEP notes that Canada is actively seeking to diversify its economic relationships as its traditional relationship with the United States faces a number of Trump related challenges.
For example, recently it became the first non-European country inside the EU’s €150 billion defence fund, SAFE.
The objective is that Canada becomes Europe’s closest democratic partner outside of the European continent.
As Carney mentioned in his address, this would not be in order to gain power “to dominate others”. The focus would be on resilience and creating “an alliance strong enough so that no one can dictate our choices.”
Canada and Ireland already share a strong relationship, which was evident when Ní Mhurchú attended a Canada-Ireland partnership event at Dublin Castle earlier this year, where Prime Minister Carney was in attendance.
In her work as a member of the Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Canada, the Ireland South MEP is working hard to see this relationship go from strength to strength.
