Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg on September 17, Carney said Canada should “deepen our people-to-people ties” with Europe, including by allowing young people to “live, work and study where they want on either side of the Atlantic.”
“Canadian membership of Erasmus+ can give your students, and ours, more opportunity to learn at some of the world’s top universities, to broaden their horizons, and to build lasting ties that will sustain our alliance for the future,” he said.
Canadian membership of Erasmus+ can give your students, and ours, more opportunity to learn at some of the world’s top universities, to broaden their horizons, and to build lasting ties that will sustain our alliance for the future
Mark Carney, Canadian PM
The Canadian prime minister said the relationship between Canada and Europe should extend beyond trade into areas including defence, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, energy, space, financial services and research.
“Canada and Europe should secure our strategic autonomy through deep cooperation in the full range of strategic capabilities,” he told MEPs.
He also backed Canadian participation in the next generation of the EU’s Horizon research program, saying it would allow the two sides to “pool resources, cooperate on frontier technologies” and make greater use of their universities and research institutes.
Carney’s speech comes after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen opened the door to Canada becoming the EU’s first associate member, an ambition the Canadian leader said Ottawa “welcomes”.
“An alliance for the future is a unique, positive approach that we will define together, building on our common strengths and based on shared values,” he said.
Carney argued that the changing geopolitical environment made closer cooperation increasingly necessary, pointing to climate change, trade tensions, weakened multilateral institutions and the growing strategic importance of technologies and supply chains.
“Europe and Canada are stronger together,” he said.
For Erasmus+, the proposal would represent a further expansion of the program’s international reach. Carney framed student mobility not simply as an educational benefit, but as part of a longer-term effort to build lasting links between Canadian and European citizens.
The aim, he said, was an alliance “not defined by what we oppose, but about what we are for: freedom, solidarity, prosperity, sustainability.
“Let us now deepen these roots, widen this canopy, and grow a transatlantic forest under which our citizens can flourish as free people on free ground.”
