Head of European Investment Bank eyes Canada opportunities as Carney pushes EU ties

Head of European Investment Bank eyes Canada opportunities as Carney pushes EU ties

Nadia Calviño says 'the time is ripe' as the bank explores financing Canadian projects

The president of the European Union's investment bank says "the time is ripe" to deepen its co-operation with Canada by exploring how to finance Canadian projects — comments that come as Prime Minister Mark Carney pushes for more EU ties.

"We haven't been very active in Canada until now," said Nadia Calviño, the president of the European Investment Bank (EIB) in an exclusive interview on Rosemary Barton Live that aired Sunday morning.

But Calviño, who is visiting Canada to meet with various federal ministers, said her trip "clearly shows that in Europe, we put our money where our mouth is."

Calviño said the first area where there's a shared interest between the two parties is critical minerals. She also said the EIB is exploring how to get a framework agreement that would enable the bank to invest in critical minerals "and beyond."

"I think the key idea is one that Prime Minister Carney is sharing, which is strategic alliance and strategic co-operation," Calviño told host Rosemary Barton. "We speak the same language, we share the same values."

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Asked whether the EIB could invest in future oil and liquid natural gas pipelines, Calviño said the bank has "consolidated its role as the climate bank" and is "much more interested in new technologies" and green energy generation.

Calviño's comments come on the heels of Carney's Canada Investment Summit, which the federal government says attracted nearly $500 billion in new investment into Canadian businesses and infrastructure.

Plus, Carney is pushing Canada to deepen its ties to the European Union, though exact details of his vision are unclear.

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On Thursday, Carney addressed the European Parliament and outlined a goal to secure "seamless, digital" trade in non-agricultural goods and services, co-operation on computing capacity and AI safety protocols, and exploring an integrated market for financial services.

However, opposition parties have been questioning whether Canada will need to make concessions, particularly after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Canada could become an EU "associate member" — a term that is not a legal designation.

Calviño said she wouldn't waste any time on "the process, the procedures, the names [and] the headlines" and said the EIB is "a very practical organization."

"We do investments. We put money. We support projects. We make things happen. And I think that's the approach of Canada, which very much resonates with the way we look at things," Calviño said. "I would say the sky's the limit."

In an interview with CBC's The House this week, Canada's ambassador-designate to the EU, Jonathan Wilkinson, ruled out Canada paying directly into the 27-nation bloc's budget.

"It's a number of specific areas that the prime minister has described as strategic capabilities — those areas where countries really need to have access to certain things that enable them to actually make sovereign decisions," said Wilkinson, who will be sworn in to his new role in the coming weeks.

Rihards Kols, a Latvian member of the European Parliament, told Barton in a separate interview that Carney's EU push is a "geopolitical necessity in these times that we live in."

"Democracies around the world, for the past two decades, are in decline. We're a minority, I would say. We need to stick together," Kols said.

But Kols does have questions about what other Canadian politicians think of the idea, and where they think the Canada-EU relationship is headed.

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"We generally understand this is a natural partnership, and we should not delay any of these co-operation elements to bring the EU closer with Canada across the front," Kols said.

Other European politicians who've spoken to CBC News over the past few days have expressed support for Carney's idea, but some worry a formal arrangement will create protracted talks that amount to little progress.

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Instead, those European politicians argue the focus should be doing the work of deepening ties — in areas like diplomacy, culture and academic research — rather than debating a formal process.

There's also the question of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called the Canada-EU idea "laughable." He's also threatened new tariffs if he deems the arrangement to be a "hostile act."

In his speech, Carney said Canada is not "proposing a third bloc in order to become a great power — only with better manners."

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"We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so no one, no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law."

Calviño said it's difficult to say whether Canada and the EU would be pushing for closer ties if Trump's trade war had not occurred, but today there's a strong determination from global partners to move forward.

"Everybody's looking at Europe and wants to join forces with Europe because we want to continue to build a world based on mutual respect, on win-win partnerships," Calviño said.

"We are very strong, the European Union is strong, Canada is strong. But we are stronger together."

Benjamin Lopez Steven is an associate producer for CBC's The House and a digital writer with CBC Politics. He was also a 2024 Joan Donaldson Scholar and a graduate of Carleton University. You can reach him at benjamin.steven@cbc.ca or find him on X at @bensteven_s.