Europe says Canada must pay 10M euros to join EU defence pact

OTTAWA — The European Union says Canada will need to pay 10 million euros — the equivalent of C$16 million — to join a defence procurement agreement with the continent, a price tag that is raising questions about how much investment the pact will generate.

Canada this week officially joined the $245 billion Security Action for Europe program, SAFE. It’s part of the ReArm Europe initiative to make the continent less reliant on American defence technology and funding.

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Defence Minister David McGuinty announced Monday the deal had been finalized but was circumspect when asked how much Canada would need to pay, telling reporters on Parliament Hill that “we’ll have more to say about that in due course.”

EU spokesman Thomas Regnier revealed the fee during a press briefing Tuesday in Brussels

“Canada will have to start to pay a one-off contribution of 10 million to the EU budget, and this will then be reassessed,” he said.

Global Affairs Canada later confirmed this figure in a Wednesday statement.

“Canada will pay a 2.5 million euro upfront administrative contribution and 7.5 million euro upfront annual participation contribution. An agreement in principle has been reached, but technical discussions continue in order to finalize treaty text,” wrote department spokesman John Babcock.

He wrote that the deal “supports all partners in improving defence readiness and fosters growth in our respective defence industries.”

In Brussels, Regnier said Tuesday the fee paid by Canada or any other country is based on the scale of “potential contracts that (each) third country industry will get.”

“There is a correction mechanism, so this will be reassessed in light of the amounts of contracts that the Canadian industry will get from its participation into SAFE,” Regnier said.

“We are following the same methodology for all potential third-country agreements that we’re negotiating under SAFE.”

The EU has asked the U.K. to pay between 4 and 6.5 billion euros, several times the size of Canada’s fee.

Université du Québec à Montréal professor Justin Massie wrote on the social media platform X that the much smaller Canadian fee raises questions about how much investment the deal will bring to Canada.

“Given that the entry costs are based on the expected benefits a third-party will derive from access to the EU instrument, we should temper our expectations,” he wrote.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand would not say Wednesday whether that’s an accurate way of understanding the numbers. In a phone call from Brussels, she said there’s enthusiasm in Europe over Canada’s defence technology and industrial capacity.

“Everyone I spoke with was very excited to have Canadian companies be on the same footing as European companies, in order to compete for procurement contracts here,” she said.

“The SAFE agreement brings Canada into the tent in a very positive way for the domestic Canadian economy.”

Regnier also said Tuesday the EU has a separate agreement with Ottawa that allows Europeans to buy products directly from Canada’s defence industry if at least one-fifth of the components in the goods come from the European Union.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2025.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press