The European Parliament is to open an office in Canada, Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced Monday.
The announcement comes two days before Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is due to attend the State of the Union speech at Parliament’s Strasbourg headquarters on Wednesday. Carney will also address the Parliament on Thursday.
The Canadian leader is heading to Europe to deepen ties with partners as Ottawa remains locked in a trade war with Washington.
“A stronger presence that facilitates parliamentary exchanges across the Atlantic, with a regional remit reaching as far as the Arctic,” Metsola wrote on social media after a meeting of the Parliament leadership at which they backed the initiative. “Europe and Canada: old friends, still writing the next page together.”
The move will see Parliament representatives working in an “antenna office” alongside the existing EU delegation to Canada in Ottawa, which is managed by the European External Action Service.
The Parliament office “will also provide an important platform for parliamentary engagement on issues of growing strategic importance to both the EU and Canada,” said a press release from the Parliament.
The Parliament has had an office in Ukraine since September 2025. It also has a presence in non-EU countries, including Ethiopia (for relations with the African Union), Moldova, the U.K., Indonesia, the U.S. and Panama.