Mot de bienvenue de la Présidente

On 24 March 2022, Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada formally addressed the plenary of the European Parliament after having had a bilateral meeting with Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament. The speech of Justin Trudeau was followed by one round of interventions by the political group leaders.

In his speech, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned "Putin's criminal invasion of a sovereign, independent, democracy: Ukraine."

"Vladimir Putin has violated the most basic precepts of international law. And he is now killing innocent civilians by bombing hospitals and residential buildings. This blatant disregard for the law and for human life poses an immense threat to Europe and to the world", he said.

"Canada, the EU, and all of our partners and allies are facing a defining moment. We cannot fail. We must meet this moment. Putin thought democracy was weak. He thought he could weaken the EU and NATO. But he miscalculated. NATO and the EU are now more resolved and united than ever", he said, before adding:

"We cannot let Ukraine down. They are counting on us. So let us use all the tools we have at our disposal. We must continue to impose unprecedented sanctions on Putin and his enablers in Russia and Belarus, increasing the pressure, as much as we can", the Canadian Prime Minister said.

• At the constituent meeting of the Delegation for relations with Canada (D-CA), which was held on 26 September 2019, a Chair and two Vice-Chairs were elected. Ms Stéphanie YON-COURTIN (Chair, Renew, France) was elected Chair. Mr Javier MORENO SÁNCHEZ (S&D, SP) and Mr Mircea-Gheorghe HAVA (EPP, RO) were elected to first and second Vice-Chair respectively. The whole Bureau, which was elected by acclamation, showed enthusiasm and commitment to continue the good work of the delegation. The members welcomed the proposal of the chair to hold the first regular meeting on 23 October 2019 in Strasbourg.

• The 40th Inter-Parliamentary meeting (IPM) took place in Strasbourg on 14 March 2019. The Members of the Canadian House of Commons and the European Parliament had deep and wide-ranging exchanges of views in two working sessions. In the first working session, Members debated recent political developments in the EU and Canada (such as EP and Canadian elections, including migration and environment/climate change and Brexit). During the second, they considered trade (CETA implementation and USMCA/trade relationship with the US). The Co-Presidents also signed a joint statement after the meeting.