Carney goes to Europe to discuss security and defense with the EU and NATO

Prime Minister Mark Carney will go to Europe this Sunday for consecutive heights where he should make significant commitments in terms of security and defense.

Carney will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anita Anand, the Minister of Defense, David McGuinty, and the Secretary of State for Defense Supply, Stephen Fuhr, at the heights of theUE andTakewhere military purchases and the diversification of supply chains will be at the heart of priorities.

Reduce his dependence on the United States Defense Markets

These international meetings take place while Canada seeks to reduce its dependence on the United States’s defense markets due to tense relations about customs prices and the repeated suggestion of President Trump to make Canada an American state.

Mr. Carney will first go to Brussels, Belgium, and will start with a visit to the Schoonsof military cemetery in Antwerp, where 348 Canadian soldiers rest.

He will also meet the Belgian Prime Minister, Bart de Wever, the president of the European Council, António Costa, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

During the summit between the European Union (EU) and Canada, the ministers Anand and McGuinty should sign a security and defense agreement with theUE In what a European official described on Friday as one of the most ambitious agreements that Europe has ever signed with a third country.

This agreement will open the door to Canada’s participation in the Rearm Europe initiative, which will allow it to access a loan program of 150 billion euros (around 237 billion Canadian dollars) for defense purchases, called Security Action for Europe.

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Once the supply agreement is concluded, Canada must negotiate a bilateral agreement with the European Commission to start discussions with the Member States about supply possibilities, it was said to an official information sessionUEFriday.

An official information session on the summit held on Saturday for Canadian journalists made it possible to learn that the initial agreement will allow Canada’s participation in certain joint supply projects. However, a second agreement will be necessary to allow Canadian businesses to bid.

At the top UE-Canada, managers should also publish a joint declaration to highlight their desire to continue pressure on Russia, including by new sanctions, and to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

After Brussels, Prime Minister Carney will go to The Hague, the Netherlands, to take part in the top of the leaders of theTakeTuesday and Wednesday.

Mr. Carney will meet the king of the Netherlands there and, later, the leaders of the Nordic nations to discuss Arctic and Transatlantic security.

At the top of theTakethe Canadian Prime Minister will participate in bilateral meetings with other leaders. The agenda of the summit includes a dinner organized by the King and the Queen of the Netherlands as well as a two-hour and a half meeting of the North Atlantic Council.

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Increase defense expenses to 5 % of the Commence

The allies of theTake should debate a plan aimed at increasing the defense expenses of alliance members to 5 % of the Commence national. Data from theTake show that in 2024, none of its 32 members spent as much.

The representative of the Canadian government who informed journalists of the context said that the expense objective and its calendar remain to be discussed, although some allies have indicated that they would prefer a seven -year period, while others, would prefer a decade.

Canada has not reached a 5 % defense expenditure threshold since the 1950s or the 2 % mark since the late 1980s.

According to the estimate of theTake Expenses recorded to achieve this objective, Canada spent $ 41 billion in 2024 for the defense, or 1.37 % of its Commence. It is more than double what he had spent in 2014, when the target of 2 % had been set for the first time; That year, Canada had devoted $ 20.1 billion, or 1.01 % of its Start, in defense.

In 2014, only three members of theTake had reached the target by 2 %, the United States, the United Kingdom and Greece. In 2025, all members should reach this target.

Any agreement to adopt a new expenditure criterion must be ratified by the 32 member states of theTake.

The former Canadian ambassador to theTakeKerry Buck, told the Canadian press that the condensed program is probably intended for Avoid public divisions between Alliesdescribing President Trump as a Uncertainty engine.

The national security environment has really changedsaid Mr. Buck, adding that the allies located next to Russia face the greatest threats. There is a high risk that the United States undergoes theTake at a time when all allies are more and more vulnerablehe added.

The threat of disengagement from the United States

Donald Trump has suggested that the United States could abandon their mutual defense commitment to the Alliance if member countries do not increase their defense expenses.

Everything we can do to cross this summit of theTake With few public dissensions between the United States and other allies about anything and to meet the very ancient demand from the United States to rebalance defense will be good for Canada, because theTake is good for Canadasaid the former Canadian ambassador.

Mark Carney has already made two trips to Europe this year: the first in London and Paris to meet European allies, the second in Rome to attend the inaugural mass of Pope Léon XIV.