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I could have a guess at the distinction...
A wing is designed to produce lift by virtue of the difference in pressure on each side.
A control surface simply takes advantage of the reaction to the air hitting it at an angle.
Presumably the Eurofighter's foreplanes fall into the latter. The Piaggio Avanti seems to be a common example of a true canard aircraft, the difference is pretty obvious...
Edit: I guess another difference is that in level flight, the Eurofighter's foreplanes aren't doing anything significant. Looking at the Avanti, without those things at the front it would immediately fall out of the sky.
Brun
gbj_tester
Hard to see how they could control without producing lift.