Image from European Council website.
The European Council, comprised of the heads of state or government of EU countries, European Council President, European Commission President, is meeting for a two-day summit in Brussels this June 18-19, 2026.
The Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute has highlighted that the European Council will discuss the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF 2028–2034).
TNI notes: “The proposed Competitiveness Fund under the 2028–2034 MFF would allocate €131 billion to armament and space, around five times more than in the previous budget cycle [€28.97 billion in 2021-2027].”
They are calling on Members of the European Parliament and EU governments to reject the proposed €131 billion envelope in the MFF, to halt the militarization f the EU budget, and, among other demands, to “create a binding human rights, environmental and due diligence exclusion framework for EU funding, preventing public money from going to companies involved in war crimes, occupation, repression, genocide, environmental destruction or serious human rights abuses.”
Peace Brigades International-Canada takes note of this because in June 2025 Canada and the European Union signed a “Security and Defence Partnership” that, as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stated at the time, is “the intentional first step toward Canada’s participation in Security Action for Europe (SAFE), an instrument of the ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030.”
This week, CBC News further explained: “The European Parliament formally welcomed Canada into the defence borrowing and procurement agreement known as Security Action for Europe (SAFE) [on May 20, 2026], the only non-European country to join. The 150-billion euro [the equivalent of C$240 billion] program grants preferential access to defence contracts financed through low-interest loans. It’s part of a broader initiative aimed at reducing the continent’s military reliance on the United States. As the first non-European country taking part in SAFE, Canadian companies can partner with European peers to bid on joint projects and access favourable financing.”
In reference to European military spending, Canadian Defence Minister David McGuinty describes Europe as a “major marketplace for us.”
This past February 2026, “Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy” highlighted Canada’s intention to: “Substantially increase financial support for export promotion efforts, and add new Trade Commissioners in the UK and key EU markets and ramp up Canada’s presence at major global defence and aerospace trade shows.”
The Government of Canada says this means “a stronger and more visible Canadian presence at major international defence and aerospace trade shows.”
This includes the ILA Berlin Air Show (June 2026 in Germany), the Eurosatory arms fair (June 2026 in France), the International Defence Industry Exhibition (September 2026 in Poland), the Defence & Security Equipment International/DSEI arms fair (March 2027 in Germany), and DSEI (September 2027 in the United Kingdom).
Some of the companies that attend these arms fairs are implicated in the list of Companies Profiting from the Gaza Genocide published by the American Friends Service Committee Action Center for Corporate Accountability.
We continue to follow this situation and to make the link between the export of weapons and the human rights violations committed by State-based actors against organizations, defenders and communities.
