What a Canada–Europe Alliance Needs
With trade, finance, technology, and supply chains having all become instruments of coercion, Canada, Europe, and other likeminded democracies must come together to defend their interests. But strategic convergence between governments is not enough; if a new alliance is to endure, it needs deep roots in society.
Bertrand Badré and Guillaume Klossa
PARIS—In today’s world, any new partnership between democratic societies will be stronger if ordinary citizens, civil-society groups, businesses, universities, the media, and local communities play a meaningful role in shaping it.
That is certainly true of the Canada–Europe relationship as it enters a new phase.
On September 16, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen opened the door to Canada becoming the European Union’s first “associate member.”
The following day, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg echoed the call for a deeper partnership based on “collective resilience.”
These remarks come at a critical moment for the international order.
With trade, finance, technology, and supply chains having all become instruments of coercion, democracies must rebuild their capacity to act, diversify their partnerships, and work more closely with countries that share their fundamental principles.
Yet strategic convergence between governments will not be enough.
If a new alliance is to endure, it needs deep roots in society.
In other words, democracy itself is a strategic necessity.
Partnerships that are broadly understood, debated, and supported by citizens will be more capable of withstanding political change, disinformation, and external pressure.
Their legitimacy does not rest solely on governments that could be replaced as soon as the next election.
Societal ownership and buy-in is what makes an institutional agreement last.
The American public’s own deep and long-standing commitment to NATO has limited US President Donald Trump’s ability to hollow out the alliance, despite his antagonism toward it.
The same insight lay behind the launch of the Europa Power Initiative, which aims to restore Europeans’ capacity to shape their own shared future.
We must make civic, societal, and cultural leadership a driving force behind European power.
That is how we will transform Europe into a democratic power capable of preserving its sovereignty and remaining free, innovative, and committed to its own values.
Carney is right to point out that sovereignty today requires resilience.
No democracy should allow outside actors to dictate its choices.
The Europa Power Initiative’s November 2025 Strasbourg Declaration reflects a complementary perspective, arguing that the power to resist external pressure rests not with governments but with the societies they represent.
It is this principle that should shape the next phase of Canada–Europe relations.
To that end, a Canada–Europe Civic and Democratic Pact could provide the societal foundation for a lasting strategic partnership.
The pact would focus on three initial priorities.
The first would be to advance education, research, and knowledge sharing.
Greater student mobility, joint university programs, scientific cooperation, and stronger research networks could gradually turn the North Atlantic into a major hub for intellectual and civic engagement.
Second, Canada and Europe should strive to develop a shared media ecosystem through stronger channels of democratic and cultural exchange.
Democracies confronted with information manipulation, technological disruption, political polarization, and declining trust cannot rely on regulation alone.
Journalists, cultural institutions, universities, and civil society also need new ways to work together.
Lastly, citizens should be given a seat at the table where strategic, scientific, industrial, and technological decisions are being made.
AI, energy, critical minerals, defense, health, and the Arctic are not just technical policy issues.
They are domains where the choices we make today will affect our social, economic, and civic life for decades to come.
Fortunately, there will be multiple opportunities in the coming weeks to lay the foundation for an enduring Canada–Europe partnership.
From October 21 to 23, the second Europa Power Conference will convene political, economic, scientific, civic, and cultural actors in Strasbourg around the theme of the “courage to make Europe.”
And only days later, on October 29-30, Canadian and European leaders will meet in Montreal for the EU–Canada Summit.
These two events should not be viewed separately.
Carney used his September address to articulate the geopolitical rationale for a deeper relationship, and those gathering in Strasbourg will surface proposals from business leaders, researchers, cultural and media actors, and others.
The aim is not to substitute civil society for governments, but to give the emerging alliance deeper roots, greater legitimacy, and the capacity to endure.
The Montreal summit will then give political leaders the opportunity to decide how far they want to take the strategic partnership.
The overarching objective should not be to create a closed Western bloc.
Carney himself has argued for an alliance that is open to other democracies.
Canada and Europe have an opportunity to demonstrate a new form of international cooperation, one that strengthens sovereignty without turning inward, increases strategic capacity without weakening democratic legitimacy, and combines power with responsibility.
The chance of success is high, because the two sides’ assets are complementary.
Europe brings market scale, research depth, industrial capacity, and decades of experience in international relations; Canada brings strategic resources, technological expertise, and a pivotal Arctic position.
The political opening is there: von der Leyen has proposed an Alliance for the Future, and Carney has welcomed that ambition.
A new strategic relationship is taking shape, and the next challenge is to give it a democratic foundation.
Between Strasbourg and Montreal lies an opportunity to begin to build a community of governments and strategic interests, based on a relationship between societies that are committed to remaining the authors of their own future.
Bertrand Badré, a former managing director and CFO of the World Bank, is Chair of the Project Syndicate Advisory Board, Founder and Managing Partner of Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital, Co-Founder of the Europa Power Initiative, and the author of Can Finance Save the World? (Berrett-Koehler, 2018).
Guillaume Klossa is CEO of T-life, a former special adviser on Artificial Intelligence to the European Commission, and Co-Chair of the Europa Power Initiative. He is the author of Fierté européenne, manifeste pour une civilisation d’avenir (Telemaque/Editis, finalist of the European Book Prize, 2022).
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