Travel to Europe | Mark Carney meets the EU and NATO to talk about security and defense

(Ottawa) Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Europe on Sunday to participate in summits where he should make significant commitments in terms of security and defense.

Carney is 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, during the EU and NATO summits, where military purchases and the diversification of supply chains will be at the heart of the priorities.

International meetings are taking place while Canada seeks to reduce its dependence on defense markets to the United States due to tense relations about customs tariffs and the repeated suggestion of President Donald Trump to make Canada an American state.

Mr. Carney first went to Brussels, Belgium. He will notably visit the Schoonselhof 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.

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

The agreement will open the door to the participation of Canada in the Rearm Europe initiative, allowing Canada to access a 150 billion euros loan program for defense purchases, called Security Action for Europe

Once the supply agreement will be in place, Canada must negotiate a bilateral agreement with the European Commission to start discussions with the Member States on supply possibilities, it was specified during an official EU information session on Friday.

An official information session on Saturday for Canadian journalists on the summit 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 EU-Canada Summit, managers should also publish a joint declaration to highlight their desire to continue pressure on Russia, including through new sanctions, and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

After Brussels, Prime Minister Carney will go to The Hague, the Netherlands, for the Summit of NATO leaders on Tuesday 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 NATO, the 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 and a two-hour meeting of the North Atlantic Council.

NATO allies are expected to debate a plan aimed at increasing the defense expenses for alliance members to 5 % of national GDP. NATO data shows that in 2024, none of its 32 members spent as much.

The representative of the Canadian government who informed journalists about the context, for his part, indicated that the objective of spending and his calendar are still to be discussed, although some allies have indicated that they would prefer a period of seven years while others prefer a decade.

Canada has not reached a defense expenses of 5 % since the 1950s and has not reached the 2 % mark since the late 1980s.

According to the NATO expenses estimate counted to reach the objective, Canada spent 41 billion in 2024 for the defense, or 1.37 % of its GDP. It is more than double what he spent in 2014, when the target of 2 % was set for the first time; That year, Canada devoted 20.1 billion, or 1.01 % of its DEF defense.

In 2014, only three NATO members 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 NATO member states.

Former Canada Ambassador to NATO, Kerry Buck, told the Canadian press that the condensed program is probably intended to “avoid public divisions between Allies”, describing President Trump as an “engine of uncertainty”.

“The national security environment has really changed,” said Buck, adding that the allies next to Russia are facing the greatest threats. “There is a high risk that the United States undergoes NATO at a time when all the allies are increasingly vulnerable,” he added.

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

“Everything we can do to cross this NATO summit with little public dissensions between the United States and other allies about anything, and meet the very ancient demand from the United States to rebalance defense expenses, it will be good for Canada because NATO is good for Canada,” said 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 and the second in Rome to attend the inaugural mass of Pope Léon XIV.