India and the European Union last week announced a “new era” in ties, unveiling a roadmap for deepening relations as they marked the beginning of the third decade of their strategic partnership amid a major churn in global economics and politics.
European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen, who was in New Delhi on February 27-28, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to upgrade ties in a slew of areas spanning critical and new technologies, security, supply chain de-risking and resilience, and trade.
Some areas that have been listed out – including cooperation in renewables, climate, water, smart and sustainable urbanization, disaster management, mobility and migration of professionals, and security collaboration in the Indo-Pacific – are not new.
However, several new elements have been added. This includes setting a year-end deadline for the completion of talks for a free trade pact, which first started in 2007. The EU is also looking to partner India in defense and security with projects under the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and to discuss signing a Security of Information Agreement (SoIA). These underline a sense of urgency in setting an energized agenda amid pressing global uncertainties.
Von der Leyen was accompanied by 25 of 27 EU commissioners for her India visit, making it unprecedented in India-EU relations. This was also the first visit outside Europe for the new College of Commissioners, which took office in December.
“Touchdown in Delhi with my team of Commissioners. In an era of conflicts and intense competition, you need trusted friends. For Europe, India is such a friend and a strategic ally. I’ll discuss with @narendramodi how to take our strategic partnership to the next level,” von der Leyen said in a post on X.
India established diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community, the precursor to the EU, in 1962. India-EU summits at the leadership level were institutionalized as an annual feature from the year 2000.
According to an Indian official, von der Leyen’s visit to India was about six months in the making. However, it materialized only after Donald Trump, who sees Europe as a competitor and rival rather than a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally and partner, took over as the 47th president of the United States in January. The trans-Atlantic partnership seems shakier than ever as Europe braces for the imposition of a 25 percent tariff on its exports to the U.S., and as Trump looks to resolve the conflict raging in Ukraine directly with Russia, without Europe or Ukraine at the table.
India has traditionally had strong ties with Russia, which, much to Europe’s chagrin, it maintained even after the Ukraine conflict began in February 2022. New Delhi was pressured to give up buying discounted Russian oil, which Western leaders said generated funds for Russia to keep its war on Ukraine going. India has resisted such pressure, in part due to worries about the growing closeness between Russia and China since the start of the Ukraine war. While individual member-states in Europe perceive China variously as a partner and a competitor, the EU sees it as a “systemic rival.”
Trump’s likely cutback on support to Ukraine could make some quarters in India concerned over the possibility of the U.S. president cutting a deal with China next and pulling back from Asia, giving Beijing unbridled sway on the continent. India is uneasy with the idea of China dominating Asia and has often made a case for a multipolar Asia.
No wonder then that Modi and von der Leyen referenced the global disorder during the latter’s visit to Delhi, as they called for closer ties between the two economic powerhouses. It is clear that both are looking out for options to steady their interests and are hedging their bets in the current global crisis.
“Geoeconomic and political circumstances are rapidly evolving. And old equations are breaking down. In times like these, the partnership between India and the EU becomes even more important,” Modi said at the start of talks with von der Leyen. “A shared belief in democratic values, strategic autonomy, and rule-based global order unite India and the EU. Both countries are mega diverse market economies. In a sense, we are natural strategic partners,” he continued.
Von der Leyen agreed that India and the EU are confronted by similar headwinds. At a public event in New Delhi, she said the EU and India were uniquely placed to respond to these together, given a great alignment of interests. Pitching the India-EU partnership as indispensable in the current global turbulence, von der Leyen said the two sides could “offer each other distinctive alternatives and tools to make ourselves stronger, more secure, and more sovereign.”
This endowed the collaboration with the potential to be one of “the defining partnerships of this century,” von der Leyen said, borrowing a familiar phrase previously used by Indian and U.S. leaders to describe their bilateral relations.
The new phase of the India-EU partnership would see the two sides pursue the new security partnership and connectivity projects like the India-Middle East-Europe-Economic Corridor, besides convergence in areas like “Make in India” and “Made in Europe.”
Areas where complementarities between India and the EU exist include electronics, semiconductors, telecommunications, engineering, pharmaceuticals and the need to secure reliable supply chains. Both sides are also focused on speeding up collaboration in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, space technology, and 6G – all of which will help propel ties forward.
During the meeting in New Delhi, the two sides made efforts to highlight common ground. Hence, the stress on shared democratic values, open market economies, and diverse pluralistic societies with “their commitment and shared interest in shaping a resilient multipolar global order that underpins peace and stability, economic growth and sustainable development.”
The Joint Leaders’ Statement also spoke of “shared values and principles,” including rule of law and the rules-based international order in line with the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter.
“The India-EU Strategic partnership is needed now, more than ever, to jointly address global issues, foster stability, and promote mutual prosperity,” it said.
There was also stock taking of the working of the relatively new Trade and Technology Council. Set up in April 2022, the Council is a crucial platform to smoothen challenges that arise at “the confluence of trade, trusted technology and security.”
“The TTC reflects a shared acknowledgement between the EU and India of the increasingly critical links between trade and technology, the potential of cooperation on these issues to enhance the economies of both partners, and the need to work together on the related security challenges,” said a statement after the talks.
While an India-EU partnership forged amid a crisis could deliver results, both sides will have to work hard to keep the bilateral track insulated from outside challenges in a choppy world. Both India and the EU will have to devote time, resources, and energy to make sure the new partnership roadmap is adhered to so that India and Europe emerge stable and reliable poles of reference for others in an unsteady world.