Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

EU and Canada agree trade deal

The EU and Canada today agreed to bolster trade and investment ties.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (the current EU President), Commission President Romano Prodi and foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, met with the Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin today in Ottawa.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Bolstering trade (Photo: European Commission)

It was Mr Martin's first EU-Canada summit since taking over from the long-serving prime minister Jean Chretien last winter.

On coming to office in December, it was speculated that Mr Martin would naturally focus more on the US and less on Europe in comparison with his predecessor - who was known for his sometimes critical views of Washington.

However, the Canadian government is keen to show that bilateral ties with Europe are still vital to Canada's interests.

Writing in today's Globe and Mail the Canadian Ambassador to the European Union described ties as taking on increasing importance.

"The Canada-EU partnership has its own increasing importance, in part because of the business we do together, but also because we share a special multilateral vocation".

"The EU relationship complements and supports our efforts to consolidate and strengthen our very complex and vital relationship with the United States".

In an effort to boost these ties, the two sides agreed to ease barriers to investment and other trade obstacles.

EU edges toward Canada free trade deal

EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht will meet Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper as the EU executive steps up its bid to secure the latest in a series of lucrative free trade agreements.

EU hails 'landmark' Canada trade deal

EU and Canadian leaders have signed up to a trade agreement worth over €25 billion per year, in a deal seen by Brussels as the forerunner to a successful trade accord with the US.

Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access

70 percent of northern Gaza is facing famine, new data shows. There is one shower per 5,500 people, and 888 people per toilet. 'How can you live in these conditions?" asked Natalie Boucly of UNRWA at the European Humanitarian Forum.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us