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Defence Minister David McGuinty says Canada has now formally joined the European Union’s Safety Motion for Europe (SAFE) program, which affords loans to member states to spend money on defence capabilities.
“The settlement strengthens our collective safety, helps the event of key defence capabilities, and provides Canadian trade entry to European defence markets whereas contributing to European and Ukrainian safety,” McGuinty mentioned in a press release despatched to CBC Information.
The official becoming a member of comes lower than a 12 months after Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a strategic defence and safety partnership with the European Union, which included becoming a member of SAFE.
The SAFE program permits associate nations to entry low-interest loans for the joint procurement of army gear and weapons. It additionally permits Canadian firms to bid on these joint tasks.
This system was introduced by the EU in March and is a part of a European effort to rearm within the face of Russia’s ongoing battle with Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the Council of the EU introduced the primary wave of monetary help underneath SAFE, which may go to Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Spain, Croatia, Portugal and Romania.
The second wave, which the Council mentioned it expects to undertake on Tuesday, will open up monetary help to Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Finland.
