Canada-EU Strategic Partnership Agreement

The Government of Canada is committed to strengthening its bilateral relationship with the European Union in a broad range of areas. It is a partnership that is founded on a mutual commitment to fundamental democratic values and principles, which have served as a strong basis for successful collaboration with EU member states.

To this end, on September 8, 2014, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and his counterpart, High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission, Catherine Ashton, announced the conclusion of negotiations on the Canada-European Union Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA), setting the stage for even stronger relations between Canada and the EU’s 28 member states. The agreement will lay out a strategic direction for stronger future relations and collaboration between Canada and EU member states at the bilateral and multilateral levels.

The SPA touches on a number of mutual priority areas, including energy, security, innovation, sustainable development and the promotion of human rights. These and many others are areas in which Canadian and EU expertise can be leveraged to improve lives both at home and around the world.

The SPA further identifies mechanisms to deepen and broaden our dialogue, cooperation and coordination in promoting these common objectives. For example, it will facilitate:

• enhanced cooperation in law enforcement to counteract terrorism, organized crime, cyber-crime and money laundering;
• further scientific research cooperation;
• stronger cooperation in the energy sector;
• expanded consular access to ensure timely consular services to Canadian and EU member state nationals;
• marked growth in security and intelligence cooperation;
• closer people-to-people linkages;
• enhanced cooperation on crisis management;
• enhanced defence and security relations; and
• increased development cooperation.

These initiatives will be undertaken with a view to advancing common interests and contributing to growth and economic prosperity in both Canada and Europe.

The next step for Canada and the European Union is to conduct their respective legal reviews of the text, paving the way for early approval, signature, and ratification of the Agreement consistent with the respective internal processes of Canada and the European Union.