Il Canada firma un patto di difesa di “vasta portata” con l’UE

>Canada signs a new defence pact with the EU

>Today’s gathering of Canadian and European leaders has at least three specific items on its agenda. 

>The top most is signing a defence and security pact that will allow Canada to join the EU’s 150-billion euro loan program for defence procurement, called the Security Action for Europe. It is part of the EU’s much-hyped “ReArm Europe” program, which aims to heighten defence spending in the next five years to lessen the continent’s reliance on the U.S. 

>A European official called the deal “one of the most far reaching” of its kind between the EU and a third country during a technical briefing last Saturday. 

>“It will open up new avenues for joint work on crisis management, military mobility, maritime security, cyber and cyber threats, and defence industrial co-operation,” the official said. The Hill Times’ NEIL MOSS has more on the deal here.

>The second outcome of the summit is expected to be a statement on global issues, including the Ukraine war, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, and the Iran-Israel conflict. 

>The third item—and perhaps a significant one for Canada—is to get European leaders to fully ratify the Canada-Europe Free Trade Agreement (CETA), which came into effect provisionally in 2017. Currently, 17 such EU member states have completed the process, while 10 of them, including France and Italy, have yet to ratify it. Moss has previously covered it here. 

>Today, Carney will first attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Antwerp Schoonselhof Military Cemetery in Hoboken, Belgium at 9:20 a.m. then head to Brussels. There he will meet Belgian counterpart BART DE WEVER at 3:15 p.m. Following this, he will arrive for the summit at 5 p.m., and take part in a plenary session at 5:30 p.m.

>The summit will wrap up by 7 p.m. after which Carney will speak to the media with Costa and Von der Leyen about meeting’s outcomes. The final event will be a “working dinner” hosted by the two European leaders.