Abstract

The article deals with the peculiarity of establishing and developing relations between the European Union and Canada in security sphere. It emphasizes that normative close ranks in approaches towards modern international relations are the potential basis for developing bilateral interaction in security and defense sphere. It observes the establishment of cooperation between Canada and the European Union after introducing the European policy of security and defense. In particular, it defines that the Canadian Government accepted the fact of strengthening the security part of the European Union activity in a reserved manner, as it could cause decrease in influence of this North American State in Euro­Atlantic area. It outlines the main directions of cooperation, scrutinizes institutional mechanisms of interaction and emphasizes the key challenges of security dimension of bilateral relations. It deals with the peculiarities of Canada’s participation in military and civil actions under the auspices of the European Union and stresses that the limited military potential of Ottawa makes its effective participation in bilateral cooperation with the European partners less possible. It stresses the adherence of priority in relations between Canada and the United States in security sphere and underlines the significant role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in its interaction on the security and defense issues between Canada and the European Union. It emphasizes that the official Ottawa insists on NATO playing the leading role in providing security in Euro­Atlantic area. It illustrates, however, that due to a number of reasons, in particular, lack of initiative in advancing European security and defense policy, the Canadian Government on current stage don’t present particular interest in activating interaction with their European partners in this sphere. It depicts also that Canada and the European Union have started developing cooperation outside ESDP on domestic security, in particular, on struggle against organized crime and other challenges of current society, which has encouraged institutionalization in relationship of the European Union and the Europol.