A road map for India-EU ties

GS paper 2

Syllabus: Bilateral, regional and global grouping and agreements, India-EU relations etc

Source: The Hindu

Direction: If you don’t have India- EU notes ready, can take a few points from the article.

Context: While India celebrates its 75th year of Independence, it also celebrates 60 years of diplomatic relations with the European Union (EU).

Significant milestone in India-EU relations:

• 1960s: India was one of the first to establish relations with the European economic community.
• Cooperation agreement (1994): It defined the relationship between India and the EU.
• First India-EU Summit (2000): It marked a watershed in the evolution of the relationship.
• 2004: Strategic partnership
• Joint Action Plan (2005): to enhance trade and investment and bring peoples and cultures together.
• 15th India-EU Summit (2020): It highlighted engagement across these areas:
  • Foreign policy and security cooperation
  • Trade and economy
  • Sustainable modernisation partnership
  • Global governance
  • People-to-people relations.

Areas of cooperation:

• Bilateral trade: Bilateral trade between the two surpassed $116 billion in 2021-22.
  • The EU is India’s second-largest trading partner after the U.S
• Avenues of collaboration:
  • For example, the ‘green strategic partnership’ between India and Denmark aims to address climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution
  • India-Nordic Summit focused on green technologies
• Defence Cooperation:
  • India and the EU regularly conduct joint military and naval exercises which reflects their commitment to a free, open, inclusive and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific.
  • France’s on-time delivery of 36 Rafale fighter jets and willingness to offer Barracuda nuclear attack submarines to the Indian Navy
  • Leading European defence equipment manufacturers are willing to partner with Indian companies aligned with the ‘Make in India’ programme.
• Free-Trade Agreement: India and the EU had launched talks for Free Trade Agreement (FTA), officially called broad-based BTIA, in 2007.
• Start-up and innovation ecosystem:
  • Science and Technology Joint Steering Committee between the two focuses on areas such as healthcare, Artificial Intelligence, and earth sciences.
  • In 2020, there was an agreement for research and development cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy between the European Atomic Energy Community and the Government of India.

Challenges: Both have differing opinions and divergent interests in some areas.

• Russian intervention in Ukraine: India’s reluctance to explicitly condemn Russia’s intervention in Ukraine
• Double standard on gas imports from Russia: India has called out the EU’s double standards on the same, for the EU purchases 45% of its gas imports from Russia in 2021.
• Rise of China: There is also ambiguity on the EU’s strategy in tackling the rise of China.
  • Its muted response during the Galwan clash is a case in point.
• Hesitancy: India’s economic, political and demographic weight could be deftly leveraged by the EU to counterbalance China’s influence across the region. But there seems to be some hesitancy about this.

Conclusion:

• Divergence and convergence: India and the EU should not let divergences of views overwhelm the many areas of convergence among them.
• India-EU free trade: The proactive resumption of the ambitious India-EU free trade and investment agreement in 2021 is a step in the right direction.
• Indo-Pacific partnership: European partners acknowledge India as an important pillar in ensuring stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
  • The EU wants to be more than just a trading bloc and is seeking alliances with like-minded countries like India.
• Political and economic poles: Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar rightly said, “ India and the EU are each political and economic poles in an increasingly multi-polar world.
  • The ability to work together, therefore, can shape global outcomes.”

Insta Links:

India-EU relations

Practice Questions: