RNDr. Luděk Niedermayer

This week I travelled to Canada leading a mission of the @EP_Economics committee. Following meetings in Parliament, we stressed at a joint press conference with the head of the @EP_Defence delegation, @RihoTerras, how intensively EU–Canada relations have been deepening since the return of Donald Trump’s politics in the United States. We surprisingly share many common challenges – from removing barriers within our domestic markets, through addressing slow growth and declining productivity, to finding responses to the profound changes taking place in the financial sector. Above all, however, there is a shared determination to remain partners, allies and friends in today’s increasingly unstable world, and to help bring more countries back toward relationships based on stable agreements and clear rules. This spirit, together with concrete areas of cooperation in trade, energy and defence, accompanies all of our meetings here – including discussions with members of Canada’s parliamentary FINA committee and representatives of the Bank of Canada. By the way, I am glad to hear how often people here highlight the exceptional role of today’s Canadian Prime Minister, former two-time central bank governor @MarkJCarney, whose influence in global politics today far exceeds the weight of his country.