It is now widely recognized that Vladimir Putin’s aim of dividing NATO by invading Ukraine has failed. Canada has other alliances at stake in this war, including its relationship with the European Union. Canadian Ambassador to the European Union Ailish Campbell writes from Brussels with an update on a bilateral-multilateral relationship that has, in this tumultuous year, doubled down on shared values.

Ailish Campbell

This article is dedicated to the memory of Mauro Petriccione, the EU’s Chief Negotiator for CETA, who passed away unexpectedly in August 2022. He will be deeply missed by his Canadian friends.

On February 24, 2022, Russia — under the authority of President Vladimir Putin — invaded the sovereign territory of Ukraine for a second time, following Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea. In December 2022 as I write this reflection, Ukraine has been defending itself with the help of support and supplies from allies, including Canada, for 10 months. War has returned to Europe.

As an extraordinary effort was being expanded for the military support and supply of Ukraine, an equally extraordinary set of discussions had begun in G7 capitals on an economic and humanitarian response to Russia’s war. At the core of the discussions in Europe was, and remains, the unique, complex institution of 27 member states that is the European Union. Through the efforts of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, coordination with the G7 and others was mounted for an unprecedented set of sanctions on Russia and Belarus. Calls with Washington, Ottawa, and Tokyo were held daily. 

A warm and direct relationship had developed between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Commission President von der Leyen, forged during the COVID-19 crisis when the EU had supplied Canada with millions of doses of mRNA vaccines. Now, in the context of war, this relationship and others across the G7 helped accelerate action. Canada also has deep on-the-ground knowledge, based on our large and active Ukrainian diaspora and the longstanding Canadian Armed Forces training mission in Ukraine, Operation UNIFIER.

Canada was also able to move quickly to accelerate its support given our close ties with President Volodymyr Zelensky, the unwavering advice of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, and cross-party support for Ukraine in Parliament. The EU leadership also knew Canada had the technical chops to keep pace with the United States on sanctions and export controls, something Brussels also required.

With support from leaders, senior officials engaged with the EU to discuss how to enact export controls to degrade Russia’s ability to service its energy sector and to repair equipment. Ministers of finance coordinated with central bank governors, and by the end of February a ban on transactions with the Russian central bank, aiming to prevent Moscow from accessing its large amounts of foreign reserves, was in place. An expanded number of sanctions were also announced on individuals.

These measures were soon followed by coordinated restrictions on transactions with numerous Russian banks, with important carve-outs for developing nations to continue to transact for essential food supplies, medicine and other essential goods. Sanctions and support measures of this speed and magnitude require the dedication and expertise of colleagues in Ottawa and across our global network.  A key lesson is that diplomacy is always a team sport.

Throughout the spring of 2022, the EU and the Brussels-based European Commission (the EU’s public service), were demonstrating their geopolitical force. The EU was using its economic clout as a single market of over 445 million citizens to ensure political action in support of Ukraine. In March 2022, Prime Minister Trudeau travelled to Brussels for both an Extraordinary Summit of NATO Heads of State and Government and bilateral meetings with EU leaders, including President von der Leyen and President of the European Council Charles Michel. In his meeting with President von der Leyen, a new dedicated working group on green transition, with a focus on clean energy including hydrogen, was launched. The meeting also allowed for a renewed focus on Canada’s ability to supply critical minerals and hydrogen. Trudeau also made a second appearance at the increasingly powerful European Parliament. At its heart, the PM’s message to the European Parliament was this:

“The resolve of our united response to this invasion has been stronger than anything Putin expected. Not just from governments, but from citizens in all of our countries. It’s that spirit and resolve that we must take forward with us. The European Union has mobilized to defend democracy. And, as always, you can count on the friendship and full support of Canada, every step of the way. Together, we must support democracies all around the world, including those that are the most fragile, and fight authoritarianism with more investments and more leadership.”

Last March, the EU also hosted an Extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council.  Normally comprised only of EU member-state foreign ministers, with no other invitees welcome as part of the closed-door discussions, this meeting was expanded to include NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and the then-Foreign Secretary of the UK, Liz Truss. The focus was squarely on the response to both the kinetic war Russia had launched in Ukraine, and the hybrid war unleashed on Europe and the world, including the weaponization of energy, and food insecurity caused by cutting off grain routes. It also focused on efforts to combat inflation, disinformation and cyberattacks. 

Only eight weeks later, in May 2022, Minister Joly participated in a second Foreign Affairs Council with EU Foreign Ministers, alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. The humanitarian response, including the EU’s welcoming of over seven million displaced Ukrainians — mostly women and children — was also critical to the discussion. In his virtual address, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was passionate about the need for expanded support to Ukraine in all aspects, including further sanctions and more military support. Minister Joly also participated in a Canada-EU Joint Ministerial Committee at that time, expanding further on joint efforts to secure land and sea corridors for grain exports and a full court press to hold Russia to account at the United Nations. These joint efforts between Canada and the EU to address Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine have continued.

Our combined sanctions and export controls to date, Canada’s full embargo on Russian oil and the EU’s work to vastly reduce its Russian gas imports are all testament to this. In addition, the G7+ oil price cap, agreed in December 2022, aims to reduce the market price of Russian oil and gather more information on the more difficult-to-regulate areas of services, including for transportation and insurance, necessary to further diminish Russia’s export capabilities.

I began this piece with a focus on coordinated Canada – EU support for Ukraine, as I believe that, above all, it is this crisis in which the EU has proven its ability to act in concert with Canada’s interests and values in the most challenging of circumstances. I would now like to outline four other areas.

Trade: Democracies must make an effort to build resilient supply chains among trusted partners and allies. Canada and the EU will continue efforts to build on the cornerstone of our Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), negotiations, first launched in 2009. Two-way bilateral merchandise trade hit a record high in 2021, reaching $100B (€67.5 B), representing a 33 percent increase compared to pre-CETA levels. Exports by Canadian SME exporters to the EU have improved by almost 17 percent over the past five years. This demonstrates that bilateral trade is growing significantly between Canada and the EU, and also that businesses of all sizes are accessing the benefits of the agreement.

At the CETA Joint Committee in December 2022, Minister Mary Ng and European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis highlighted the strength and resilience of our partnership and committed to continuing to adapt the trade agreement through strengthening cooperation on sustainable development, and holding discussions to enhance the enforceability of CETA’s environment and labour provisions. They also agreed to further clarifications with respect to the Agreement’s investment protection provisions, which will lead to a Joint Interpretative Statement. Recent CETA ratifications developments — with positive votes in the Netherlands and Germany — were also welcomed. CETA entered into force provisionally in 2017, meaning that most of the agreement now applies, including eliminating duties on 99 percent of all tariff lines. Using CETA to deepen secure supply chains alongside other economies, paramount for Canada with the US, will further demonstrate the value of trusted, strong partnerships.

Innovation for the green transition and tech transformation:  The collective challenge of our generation remains competent stewardship of the planet through protecting the environment, addressing climate change and transitioning towards a cleaner, climate-neutral economy. Canada and the EU will continue efforts to advance and address climate change and biodiversity protection globally. Canada remains steadfast in its commitment to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, and to important tools such as carbon pricing. Like the EU, Canada has enshrined our objective of climate neutrality by 2050 into law. As the EU advances on its energy security – vital for its economic stability, growth and competitiveness – Canada remains a trusted partner for the supply of innovative clean technologies to boost supply and conservation, and on actions to address climate change and protect the environment. We will also deepen our work on safe and secure data flows as well as digital credentials through regulation and joint standards, and on platform regulation in our respective jurisdictions and internationally. Deepened cooperation on ethical artificial intelligence and increased cyber resilience are two critical areas for more work across our government, academic and private sectors.

The story of the EU’s improbable development, linked as it has been to its ability to adapt during crises, reminds us that more innovation is coming in international institutions and that Canada is an agile partner.

As Anu Bradford outlined in her book The Brussels Effect the EU is a regulatory superpower, and one which Canada must both work with and continue to influence from “inside the tent” of our strong partnership. Not only do we have CETA through which to advance shared objectives, we also have our Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) — a treaty-based set of dialogues that has been expanding to include more structured work on environment and technology in recent years.

Global partnerships, including in the Indo-Pacific: Canada and the EU must continue to work to advance a rules-based international order, global health, food security and peace for our security and that of our partners. Cooperation for democracy promotion is critical, where the EU has particular influence through its enlargement process and Eastern Partnership in the Balkans and Caucuses.  Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy is also well aligned with the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. Both feature a values- and rules-based approach to enhanced engagement in the region, aimed at maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific and improving our security and people ties.

The EU’s Global Gateway initiative is another area for partnership, launched as the flagship strategy to invest globally in infrastructure. Canada has a strong track record in the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and multilateral development banks as well as FinDev Canada, our development finance institution to advance sustainable development. Deepened cooperation on joint actions to fulfill the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda will further enhance the Canada–EU toolkit, and is necessary to demonstrate to partners in the Caribbean and the Americas, Africa and across Asia that we are committed to their well-being and progress, not only to that of our home regions.

The diversity of ways in which Canada and the EU cooperate leads to my final point about the ways in which the EU is Canada’s essential partner.

The EU pushes us to adapt to new architecture for foreign and economic relations: 

The story of the EU’s improbable development, linked as it has been to its ability to adapt during crises, reminds us that more innovation is coming in international institutions and that Canada is an agile partner. Whether this in in the field of security cooperation for Ukraine, Arctic governance or regulating AI, the existing state-based architecture must adapt. The EU, for all its complexity, reminds us that nations can combine and project their interest and power in new and enduring ways. Canada must continue to be a capable partner to these new, emerging forms of collective action that are in our interest and ready to respond to those that are not. 

As the first woman to hold the post of Canada’s Ambassador to the EU, I reflect on another strong woman, Sylvia Ostry. Ostry was the first female Deputy Minister of Trade. She was always pushing boundaries, and looking for the unexpected even as she worked inside traditional government structures. She inspired me to move to Brussels the first time I was here in 1998 to study EU labour markets and monetary policy. “Never study the obvious, always look for what’s coming,” Sylvia would counsel. Sage advice for our uncertain times, and yet another reason for us to deepen our partnership with the EU so that Canada can continue to be a stronger, more capable and resilient international force. 

Ailish Campbell was appointed Canada’s Ambassador to the EU in August 2020.  Previously, she was the Chief Trade Commissioner of Canada at Global Affairs Canada, and Assistant Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Corporate Finance at Finance Canada. She began her public service career in 2002 as a negotiator on the WTO Doha Round.