Carney's European address will find an eager audience in a continent rattled by Trump
PM to speak at European Parliament as Canada, EU appear poised to move closer
One of the drawbacks of giving a historic speech like the one that Prime Minister Mark Carney gave in Davos, Switzerland, in January is that people expect an encore every time you speak.
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you → find → encore
The Carney government has been at pains to lower expectations for anyone who's hoping for another worldwide viral moment when Carney addresses the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on Thursday morning.
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Carney → lower → morning
There will be nothing that will really surprise those who've been following the prime minister's publicly expressed thinking, or the progress of the growing rapprochement between Canada and the European Union, one senior government official told CBC News.
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official → surprise → News
And yet neither the Canadians nor the Europeans are downplaying the large expectations they have for an expanded EU-Canada alliance that goes far beyond the current Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
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that → downplay → Agreement
Carney 'nailed it' at Davos:
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Carney → nail → Davos
"Europeans looked very positively on him and on that speech in Davos," said Sven Simon, chair of the European Parliament's committee on constitutional affairs.
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Simon → look → affairs
"He nailed it.
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He → nail → it
He put it really in the right direction.
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He → put → direction
I think in those uncertain times, we, both the Europeans and Canadians, have a huge interest in closer co-operation."
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we → think → operation
Carney himself, while stressing that this trip is not the grand finale of a grand bargain, told Bloomberg News that he expects great things in the future.
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he → stress → future
Look, it's not going to be solved this week in Strasbourg.
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it → look → Strasbourg
"
All indications are that both sides are heavily focused on the Canada-EU Summit scheduled for Oct. 29-30.
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sides → focus → Oct.
"I think that there is a significant step to be done in October because both parties would like to enhance or to elevate their relationship," EU Ambassador to Canada
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parties → think → relationship
Geneviève Tuts told CBC's Power and Politics.
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Tuts → tell → Power
"We want to reimagine the relationship between the EU and Canada."
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We → want → EU
Rattled Europeans
Hans-Gert Pöttering, a former president of the European Parliament who visited Canada last week, told CBC News that the Trump administration's treatment of Canada had shocked Europeans.
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treatment → rattle → Europeans
"There is somebody who wants to make Canada the 51st state of the United States.
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Canada → be → States
And all these crazy ideas, I think are the basis that we see how important Canada is for us," he said.
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he → think → us
Both Canadian and European officials often say they want to work with "like-minded" allies, and for the Canadians, "like-minded" has increasingly come to mean "European," while for Europeans, it increasingly means "Canadian."
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it → say → Canadian
Both sides have poured cold water on any talk of Canada joining the EU.
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Canada → pour → EU
The Canadians say they aren't interested in the basic formula of EU membership under which countries give up some sovereignty in return for access.
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countries → say → access
Canada is engaging with Europe in order to strengthen its sovereignty, not to dilute it, a senior official told CBC News.
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official → engage → News
The same official said that reporting in the Wall Street Journal that suggested Canada was looking to reproduce arrangements that non-EU members such as Norway have with the union — which do involve some concessions on sovereignty — are false.
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which → say → sovereignty
No name yet to define the relationship
European officials also say they envision an alliance between the EU and Canada, rather than an amalgamation.
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they → define → EU
But the partnership they envision would go further than the current relationship with the United Kingdom.
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they → envision → Kingdom
Germany's David McAllister, who chairs the foreign affairs committee of the European Parliament, told CBC News that neither side had yet paid much attention to labels — but stressed the EU is not trying to get Canada to surrender sovereignty
On the contrary, McAllister, who trained in Manitoba at CFB Shiloh as a young soldier in the German Army, said Europe was willing to collaborate with Canada to protect itself from U.S. threats.
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Europe → chair → threats
What we know about Carney's push for a 'unique alliance' with the EU
- Analysis
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know → know → Analysis
Zelenskyy's comparison of Canada to Ukraine is imperfect — but it matters
"
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it → matter → Ukraine
We in Europe understand that threats and economic pressure against an ally simply damaged the trust which we need among transatlantic allies," he said.
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he → understand → allies
"That's why the U.S.-Canadian dispute, which President Trump is responsible for, has received such wide media coverage all over Europe."
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Trump → receive → Europe
Both sides speak about the importance of getting 10 holdout countries, including France and Italy, to ratify CETA, but that's mostly symbolic.
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that → speak → CETA
Canada is also already integrated into two vital pan-European projects: the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program that provides low-interest loans for joint military procurement and the Horizon program that funds scientific research.
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that → integrate → research
But both sides say there are areas of co-operation that remain under-exploited or even unexplored.
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that → say → operation
There have been signs of openness to increased labour mobility, although it's very unlikely that would go as far as the full freedom of movement that exists in the EU.
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that → increase → EU
Two areas appear to be of greatest interest.
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areas → appear → interest
The first is to use the free trade framework that already exists to build a genuine synergy between Canada's natural resource and energy wealth, and Europe's large market and manufacturing capacity, to the benefit of both economies.
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that → use → economies
CETA "is actually a fantastic framework, but we are not fully using it either in Europe or in Canada
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we → use → Canada
," said Tobias Cremer, who sits on the foreign affairs and defence committees of the European Parliament.
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who → say → Parliament
"A lot of our especially medium- and small-sized companies don't even know the potential we have.
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we → know → potential
Canada has all this potential, but the infrastructure for instance isn't actually set up yet to go across the Atlantic."
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infrastructure → have → Atlantic
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
