Canada's Prime Minister in the European Parliament: Finally an enthusiastic EU fan

T he Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney seems to be a kind of superstar for some EU MPs, a savior of the European Union. During his appearance in Parliament in Strasbourg, there were lots of selfies with parliamentarians, admiring glances - and at the end an awe-inspiring standing ovation. Canada and the EU: We are strong – together we are even stronger, Carney shouted to his supporters.

Proposing so-called associated membership between the two deeply loving partners is much more than a purely political symbolic act. It's a strategic move that has priced in Donald Trump's angry reaction. Of course, the US President immediately rumbled loudly, suspected a “hostile act” and threatened an even more rigid customs policy towards the EU – and Canada anyway.

The rude reaction is a sure sign that Trump not only dislikes this move by Carney and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, but that it hits a nerve. There are already close connections at the commercial level. Now things should continue with raw material agreements, more closely integrated defense strategies, technology exchange for a real energy transition, and exchange programs for universities.

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Carney makes no secret of the fact that geostrategic interests in the interests of both partners are paramount. It is not for nothing that he refers to the Arctic battleground, where both the EU and Canada want to have a say. Both do not want to remain in the grip of the USA and Russia.

But the love story should in no way look like another power bloc that only differs from other power-hungry states because of its “better manners”. With the more harmless keyword resilience, the Prime Minister describes it between the lines: They want to be a bulwark against autocratic behavior worldwide. The upheavals are so great that we have to do more, he says. And is right about that.

In his speech, the Canadian Prime Minister used the great tools of diplomacy, packaged in figurative words. There is talk of new storms, of a tree planted by a survivor of the Battle of Vimy in World War I, which could now flow into a transatlantic forest. They are words that Europe obviously urgently needed.

Finally a country is happy to join us – the European Union. Not always just complaining about the cumbersome bureaucratic EU apparatus. The Union cannot currently do this on its own, as France and Germany are no longer stable engines. And so the greetings from Canada come at just the right time.