Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-19-Speech-3-323"
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"en.20031119.14.3-323"2
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".
Madam President, the next summit meeting between the European Union and Canada was scheduled to take place on 17 December 2003 in Ottawa. The timing of the summit has now been called into doubt. The Commission understands that the presidency has difficulties with the date proposed. The Commission attaches very great importance to this summit with Canada and is ready to do anything it can to ensure that it takes place. Since this difficulty has arisen, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien has announced his intention to step down from office on 12 December. It therefore seems unlikely that the date of 17 December can be maintained. However, the Commission remains hopeful that a solution can be found so that our final summit meeting with Prime Minister Chrétien can indeed take place before his retirement.
We have put a lot of work into preparing for this summit, which will be the last hosted by Prime Minister Chrétien, a long-standing true friend of Europe. We intend to use this occasion to demonstrate the strong ties that bind the European Union and Canada, and to signal our common intention to strengthen those ties still further in the coming months and years.
In this context the Commission welcomes the statement issued by the Chairman of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association, on the occasion of the recent EU-Canada interparliamentary meeting in Ottawa. The Commission was gratified to note the great degree of consensus between the chairman's statement, the recent conclusions of the Council of Ministers and the Commission's own communication of May 2003 on EU-Canada relations.
As the chairman's statement observed, the EU and Canada agreed at last year's Ottawa Summit, to undertake a comprehensive review of the bilateral relationship during 2003 and to report back to the December summit this year. The Commission is working hard, alongside the presidency and with our Canadian counterparts, to finalise a joint report to go to the summit. This report will take up many of the themes developed by the Commission, Council and Parliament in their contributions to the review.
A driving force behind the review is the changing nature of the EU-Canada relationship. Given the changing nature of the European Union itself, Canada was the first industrialised third country to enter into a formal relationship with the European Economic Community in 1976. As a result, the EU-Canada relationship has tended to focus on trade and economic issues. However, Canada and the EU's common interests extend far beyond the commercial arena. We share similar social models and global interests. Canada, like the European Union, is a staunch advocate of the United Nations, the multilateral system and the international rule of law. By way of example, Canada voted with the European Union 96% of the time during the current UN General Assembly, on those occasions when the European Union had a common position.
We want to find ways of working together more systematically in the field of security and foreign policy so that we can be more effective in carrying forward those policies where our objectives coincide. We also want to improve our dialogue in other policy areas where we often share common values and face similar challenges. These areas include education and culture, the environment and justice and home affairs. We have also maintained our focus on the very important economic relationship that exists between Canada and the European Union.
The EU is Canada's second most important trading partner after the United States. We are the second source of foreign investment in Canada. In parallel with our comprehensive review of all aspects of EU-Canada relations, we have also been developing the framework for a new type of bilateral trade and investment agreement, with the aim of facilitating trade and investment flows between the EU and Canada. Commissioner Lamy and the Canadian Trade Minister, Mr Pettigrew, will report to the December summit on the results of their analysis into the potential scope of such an agreement. We expect talks to begin immediately in 2004.
The European Commission believes that an intensified dialogue between European and Canadian parliamentarians is essential to maintain the good health of our relationship. The Commission is grateful for the work of Parliament's Canada delegation and hopes that other Members and committees, working on specific policy areas, will also give consideration to increasing contact with their Canadian counterparts.
The relationship between the EU and Canada is very healthy. The European Commission is resolved to do all it can to keep it that way. We want the summit to lift this relationship to a new plateau, at a challenging time for the international community and in preparation for major changes taking place in Canada and within the European Union in the coming month."@en1
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