Thursday

23rd Mar 2023

Opinion

EU-India summit: slow progress, except for security deal

  • Indian prime minister Narendra Modi (c) with EU's Tusk and Juncker. The summit in Delhi saw progress on security and radicalisation, but no breakthrough on trade. (Photo: Consilium)

The 14th EU-India Summit held in Delhi last Friday (October 6th) was not a summit of big announcements.

But it succeeded in maintaining the political momentum created by the last summit in March 2016, which came after four years of frozen relations. The summit confirmed that on several issues the strategic orientations of the partners are mostly aligned. It is now time to align the policy agendas. But how and what should be done?

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

As declared in the joint summit statement, the partners share interests in a number of areas where concrete progress is possible, above all climate change, urbanisation and counter-terrorism.

The EU and India should now focus on transforming political declarations into actual policy. The two parties already hold several policy dialogues but these have been confined to bureaucratic exchanges, in which the counterparts discuss without much real commitment or therefore progress.

To move out from its impasse, there is the need for concrete steps, such as facilitating officer exchanges between Europol and Indian Security Agencies – agreed upon this week – to enhance security cooperation.

After Trump, India sees EU as island of stability

In a volatile world orphaned of US leadership, India is looking at the EU as an island of stability and even urging it to upgrade its role as global security provider. In this context, and in line with ongoing discussion on the future of European Defence, the consolidation of the European Defence and Technological Industrial Base (EDTIB) including by supporting its export, would strengthen the EU stand as global security provider.

Especially when looking at the EDTIB from India – where competition amongst major global defence players to access its market is fierce – there is a clear need for stepping up EDTIB coordination and integration. EDTIB – India Industrial cooperation can be a driver to boost EU-India security and defence cooperation.

The EU cannot ignore India's rise and strategic role in the fast-changing Asia. Chinese aspirations will call on India to assume enhanced responsibilities in foreign policy.

India is indeed now seeking its global role and identity. In this process, global powers, such as Russia and US above all, are injecting their influence and values. Moreover, India, like many other countries, is not immune from radicalisation – be it Islamic, or Hindu.

In light of European democratic values where the rule of law and human rights have a central place – values that are today ever more challenged globally – the EU should help India to continue growing into a strong, stable and like-minded democracy, capable of being a strong ally in defending the liberal order.

Still misunderstandings

In spite of being strategic partners since 2004, there is still a profound lack of understanding between India and the EU, which exacerbates the reciprocal underrating of each other's potential.

India still fails to see the added value of dealing with the EU rather than bilaterally with member states. In addition, Indian officials sometimes hold the conviction that EU competences can be overturn by dealing directly with member states on issues, such as trade, on which the EU has exclusive competence.

The EU Global Strategy lists enhanced public diplomacy as one of the five strategic priorities. There is possibly no partnership that could benefit more from enhanced public diplomacy efforts by the EU than this. In this context, the EU recently awarded a multi-year public diplomacy project. Its implementation should be carefully monitored to ensure that results are achieved.

The elephant in the room did not move: despite the fact that EU-India trade relations are substantial albeit stagnating (with bilateral trade in goods at $88 billion in 2016), no significant progress on a free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations has been made.

The policy community should seriously reflect on how to move forward from this impasse. Negotiations with India may occasionally be difficult, because the reason for halting progress in one area of common agreement may sometimes lie in a different area altogether.

That's why enabling frank discussions through so-called 'Track 2 diplomacy' – discussions amongst civil society composed of think tanks, academia, business and media - could support official negotiations in unfolding the "real" reasons behind a sudden lack of appetite for progress on Indian side.

Stefania Benaglia is India Research Fellow at Istituto Affari Internazionali in Brussels.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

The three 'Elephants in the Room' in EU-India relations

A revamping of Indian and EU strategic priorities - coupled with wariness of Chinese expansionism in the absence of American leadership - is pushing them both to seek like-minded partners elsewhere.

Column

India is waging the wrong war and that's bad for Europe

As long as European companies continue to choose the certainty of the Chinese dictatorship over the volatility of India's fragile democracy, the threat from China is not going to change soon.

How much can we trust Russian opinion polls on the war?

The lack of Russian opposition to the Russo-Ukrainian War is puzzling. The war is going nowhere, Russian casualties are staggering, the economy is in trouble, and living standards are declining, and yet polls indicate that most Russians support the war.

Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown

Turkey goes to the polls in May for both a new parliament and new president, after incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided against a post-earthquake postponement. The parliamentary outcome is easy to predict — the presidential one less so.

Why can't we stop marches glorifying Nazism on EU streets?

Every year, neo-Nazis come together to pay tribute to Nazi war criminals and their collaborators, from Benito Mussolini to Rudolf Hess, Ante Pavelić, Hristo Lukov, and of course Adolf Hitler, in events that have become rituals on the extreme-right calendar.

Latest News

  1. Sweden worried by EU visa-free deal with Venezuela
  2. Spain denies any responsibility in Melilla migrant deaths
  3. How much can we trust Russian opinion polls on the war?
  4. Banning PFAS 'forever chemicals' may take forever in Brussels
  5. EU Parliament joins court case against Hungary's anti-LGBTI law
  6. Three French MEPs to stay on election-observation blacklist
  7. Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown
  8. When geopolitics trump human rights, we are all losers

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality
  5. Promote UkraineInvitation to the National Demonstration in solidarity with Ukraine on 25.02.2023
  6. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us