Carney in Brussels for EU-Canada summit

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (2nd R), his wife Diana Fox Carney (R), Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (2nd L) and Antwerp alderman Koen Kennis (L) visit to the Schoonselhof cemetery, on the sidelines of an EU-Canada summit, in Antwerp, on June 23, 2025. Photo by JASPER JACOBS/Belga/AFP via Getty Images

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BRUSSELS — Prime Minister Mark Carney began official events for his four-day trip to Europe Monday by visiting a military cemetery in Belgium before a meeting with European counterparts at the EU-Canada summit.

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Carney said on social media Sunday he was in Brussels to launch “a new era of partnership” between Canada and the European Union to benefit workers, businesses and security “on both sides of the Atlantic.”

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Carney started the day with a visit to the Antwerp Schoonselhof Military Cemetery, where 348 Canadian soldiers are buried.

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Carney toured the cemetery alongside his wife, Diana Fox Carney, and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever.

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Carney also took part in a wreath-laying ceremony with Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and National Defence Minister David McGuinty. Stephane Dion, special envoy to the European Union and Europe, also attended.

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Carney is expected to meet later Monday with De Wever, European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

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At the EU-Canada summit, Anand and McGuinty are expected to sign a security and defence agreement with the European bloc — an agreement one European official described last week as one of the most ambitious deals the continent’s powers have ever signed with a third country.

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The security and defence agreement opens the door to joint purchases of weapons with European countries and participation in the ReArm Europe initiative — which will allow Canada to access a 150-billion-euro program for defence procurement called Security Action for Europe.

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Canada will need to sign a second agreement with the European Commission before it can take part in the program.

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A government official briefing reporters on the trip said the partnership is expected to make procurement easier and more affordable, while also allowing Canada to diversify its sources of equipment.

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At the EU-Canada summit, leaders are also expected to issue a joint statement pressing Russia to end its war on Ukraine through measures like further sanctions, and calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The joint statement is also expected to touch on climate change, trade and digital and tech policy.

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De Wever said Canada’s partnership with the EU is critical now because “we’ve woken up in a world that doesn’t look that friendly anymore.”

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“We’re living in a world where we have an imperialist power in the east who uses military force, we have a peculiar figure in the White House who is choosing the road of protectionism and even isolationism. So those who like a rules-based world, a multilateral world, should find each other’s company now,” the Belgian prime minister said.