‘Writing Letters, Wonderful…’: MEP Tobias Urges Serious Commitment to EU-Canada Love Story

Over the last few months, Canada and Europe have been pretty good at writing each other love letters. And that's been wonderful. But now it's time to get serious. Canada could become the first associate member of the European Union. But what does that actually mean? For us, the vision is clear. Associate membership must mean the closest possible partnership that the EU can offer to a non-European country. In the case of Canada, that means unleashing CETA's full potential, integrating our defence industries, cooperating in the Arctic and allowing young Canadians and Europeans to travel, study and work more freely across the Atlantic. But it must also mean embedding all these great initiatives into something more enduring, into a common institutional framework of coordination and cooperation. For instance, by inviting Canada to participate in relevant council meetings or by establishing a formal parliamentary partnership assembly between the EP and the Canadian Parliament, as we have it with the UK. This Euro-Canadian alliance must be more than just a trade deal plus. And not just because we all love Canada, which we do, but because it could actually become the nucleus of something much bigger. Of a global network of like-minded partners that offers the world a different way, a different vision of doing politics in the 21st century. A vision in which collective security, shared interests and mutual respect prevail over might is right. colleagues over the last few months Canada and Europe have been pretty good at writing each other love letters and that's been wonderful but now it's time to get serious and to turn this Euro-Canadian love story into a more concrete commitment for Canada, for Europe and the world. Thank you Thank you very much Mr Becker Thank you President Dear colleagues in Flanders fields the poppies blow more than 100 years ago Canadian soldiers came to the fields of Flanders to defend our freedom but that bound should be more than just a memory of the past because the reality is that Canada and Europe need each other once again not to fight our wars but to defend our interests together as global powers put increased pressure on us we must stand stronger together for our security for reliable energy for critical raw materials. And Europe also has a lot to offer Canada. A huge single market, Erasmus, small smart students, investments, you name it. But what truly unites us goes beyond economic interests. We share, yes indeed, the same values. Democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and the respect for international law. And these are precisely the values that are increasingly under pressure today. But colleagues, why should we stop here? Let Europe and Canada take the lead in bringing other partners together, such as the United Kingdom and Australia. Bring them on board to build a stronger coalition of democracies. Because when facing global powers, allies must stand together and strengthen each other. Thank you. Merci beaucoup, Monsieur Becker. Thank you very much, Monsieur Becker. Thank you, speakers, and Brando Benefede. Thank you. We can absolutely take forward our relationship with Canada, but we need to build on our own union. We've been paralysed by too many proposals which have never seen the light of day. So better relationships, deeper relationships with associate countries, partner countries is an excellent idea. But declarations of principle are all very well, but we need political and legal decisions. and in order to be able to achieve that we'd have to amend article 49 of the treaty and we would need a specific protocol we're not starting from zero because we can work on the basis of this Pinelli report which made some very clear proposals and indeed Andrew Duff's proposals developed that let's remember what Mark Carney said we can't ask or expect our partners to build a common future if We don't have the courage of our own convictions to take the necessary decisions ourselves. We need to establish a democratic order in our world.