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Thank you very much, Madame la Présidente. Dear Ursula, thank you. Monsieur le Président, dear António.

You know, be careful what you wish for. For the location of the next Summit, you mentioned the Arctic, where I’m from. The last time the European Union (EU) was at a summit in the Arctic, it was in Iqaluit in February for a G7 Summit. And I remember this vividly. It was the start of the sovereignty debt crisis that affected a number of countries in the world.

Think about the difference between then and now. Think about the institutional changes in Europe. Think about what’s happening in the world now in terms of the threats financially, the threats geopolitically, the stability and the resilience of the EU, and the fact that the EU is looking to build positively. We’re honoured that part of this building is with Canada, but it shows how much has changed, and how much changes when you stay true to your values and stay focused.

So, in terms of the new Canadian government’s values and mandate, we have a strong mandate that includes diversifying and strengthening our international partnerships, finding new ways to co-operate and connect, and increasing security, prosperity, and stability at home and aboard, including in Ukraine. 

To fulfill this mandate, we will first turn to our most trusted allies, the ones that share our values of democracy, freedom, and sovereignty. 

So we’re meeting now in that context. As you justly said, in hard times. We might say even a hinge moment of history, with a world that’s more dangerous and divided. A time where the rules-based international order, the rules-based global order is under threat. A time when technological change is accelerating.

We really have two choices as a jurisdiction, as a country in this circumstance: we can nostalgically look back and long for the old order to somehow return, or we can build a new one with purpose and partnership.

As the most European of non-European countries, Canada looks first to the EU to build a better world. That’s what today is about. It’s about building on our triple alignment of values, of interests, and of trust. Trust built over the years. And so today, this is a new era of co-operation. Our strategic Canada-EU – or EU-Canada – partnership for the future will build a new and deeper relationship that brings us closer together, from defence to digital, from supply chains to security.

We’re launching comprehensive negotiations across multiple areas of co-operation and connection, including trade, security, digital, and climate. And this will make us both more resilient and more prosperous.

In many respects, what we’re committing to from our perspective – Canada’s perspective – is an ongoing process to an ever-closer partnership that will bring our peoples closer together.

Together, Canada and the EU will be able to create more opportunities for industries and workers through more frequent exchanges and better regulatory alignment. We will be able to be more competitive thanks to stronger and more strategic supply chains. We will fight climate change. And we will build stronger economies through greater co-operation in our carbon pricing systems. 

In this more dangerous and divided world, we must also be prepared to defend our peoples and our values, to secure our sovereignty, and to protect our allies. To these ends, we will be in The Hague tomorrow with significant new commitments to our own defence and our mutual defence, meeting our NATO targets, further accelerating investments in the coming years. Doing so, the EU and Canada – with this new security and defence partnership that provides for increased co-operation across the full spectrum of security – will work to deliver on our new requirements for capabilities more rapidly and more effectively, to build our industries, and to secure our jurisdictions.

So we are very pleased to be taking this important step toward participation in SAFE as part of ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030, bringing shared expertise, joint research, and innovation.

You know, at its core, Europe was born as a project of peace. And Canada, over the decades, has served alongside European allies in pursuit of that peace. It’s in those circumstances, from Vimy to Juno, that the world came to know the value of our strength.

Now, we’re working alongside the EU to combat climate change, to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and to protect, amongst other things, academic and scientific freedoms. In these ways, the world knows the strength of our values. And this partnership in defence, security, and economics really builds those strengths in both our jurisdictions and lives up to our values.

So with that, thank you for the partnership. It’s not over. As you say, we have dinner, and this one will involve a lot of work, but so be it because we have a lot of work to do.

Thank you.