European Union and Canada will enhance their collaboration to boost readiness for health emergencies, including through joint stress tests, stated European commissioner for Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib during her visit, just two days prior to an EU-Canada summit.
"Our ties with Canada have reached an unprecedented level, and we will enhance them even more in the fields of readiness for epidemics and pandemics, as well as for natural or man-made disasters," the Belgian commissioner stated following discussions with Melanie Joly, Canada's minister in charge of the pharmaceutical sector.
A pact initiated last year between the EU and Canadian health crisis organizations, HERA and HERC, will result in collaborative stress tests and the exchange of information—occasionally sensitive—regarding strategic stockpiles and supply chains, such as those related to personal protective equipment. "This has not been accomplished with a nation beyond the EU," Lahbib informed Belga.
Another instance is that Canada will participate in "PACE" crisis-management drills that are already in progress between NATO and the EU. The nation will participate in the EU's new initiative to enhance pandemic research and innovation, BE READY, as part of Horizon Europe.
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"Canada is a nation with which we have much more in common than just values." "Hadja Lahbib emphasized, 'It also has faith in science.'" "Collaborating on medical countermeasures like vaccines and medications, Europe and Canada will be prepared to tackle the next health emergency together when it occurs."
The Commissioner was also scheduled to visit De Havilland on Tuesday, the Canadian facility that produces Canadair-style firefighting planes. Two years ago, the EU and its Member States placed an order for 24 new aircraft: 12 designated for the rescEU strategic reserve and 12 for specific Member States. They will begin to be delivered in 2028.
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After Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's January appeal for a coalition of "middle powers" in light of great powers' unpredictability, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested last month that Canada might become the EU's first "associate member", although she did not clarify what this status would involve.
It is said that not all member states are enthusiastic about this: Germany, among others, reportedly opposes adding a mention of that membership in the conclusions of the EU-Canada summit occurring Thursday and Friday in Montreal.
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For Hadja Lahbib, what is emerging is "a new model": transitioning from CETA, the EU-Canada trade and investment agreement, to a partnership for prosperity and security that encompasses the Arctic, essential minerals, energy, AI, quantum technology, and cybersecurity concerns. The goal is to create "trustworthy collaborations in a world that is growing increasingly unreliable."