Europe and India seek closer ties with \u2018mother of all deals\u2019
\nMonitoring Desk
\nNew Delhi
\nIndia and Europe hope to strike the \u201cmother of all deals\u201d when European Union (EU) chiefs meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi next week, as the two economic behemoths seek to forge closer ties.
\nFacing challenges from China and the United States, India and the European Union have been negotiating a massive free trade pact \u2014 and talks, first launched about two decades ago, are nearing the finishing line.
\n\u201cWe are on the cusp of a historic trade agreement,\u201d European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this week.
\nVon der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa will attend Republic Day celebrations on Monday before an EU-India summit on Tuesday, where they hope to shake hands on the accord.
\nSecuring a pact, described by India\u2019s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as \u201cthe mother of all deals\u201d, would be a major win for Brussels and New Delhi as both seek to open up new markets in the face of US tariffs and Chinese export controls.
\nBut officials have been eager to stress there is more to it than commerce.
\n\u201cThe EU and India are moving closer together at the time when the rules-based international order is under unprecedented pressure through wars, coercion and economic fragmentation,\u201d the EU\u2019s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u2018Untapped potential\u2019
\nRussia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and US President Donald Trump\u2019s punitive tariffs have brought momentum to the relationship between India and the EU, said Praveen Donthi, of the International Crisis Group think tank.
\n\u201cThe EU eyes the Indian market and aims to steer a rising power like India away from Russia, while India seeks to diversify its partnerships, doubling down on its strategy of multi-alignment at a time when its relations with the US have taken a downward turn,\u201d he said.
\nThe summit will offer Brussels the chance to turn the page after a bruising transatlantic crisis over Greenland \u2014 now seemingly defused.
\nTogether, the EU and India account for about a quarter of the world\u2019s population and GDP.
\nBilateral trade in goods reached \u20ac120 billion ($139bn) in 2024, an increase of nearly 90 per cent over the past decade, according to EU figures, with a further \u20ac60bn ($69bn ) in trade in services.
\nBut both parties are eager to do more.
\n\u201cIndia still accounts for around only around 2.5 per cent of total EU trade in goods, compared with close to 15 per cent for China,\u201d an EU official said, adding the figure gave a sense of the \u201cuntapped potential\u201d an agreement could unlock.
\nEU makers of cars, machinery and chemicals have much to gain from India lowering entry barriers, said Ignacio Garcia Bercero, an analyst at Brussels think tank Bruegel, who led EU trade talks with New Delhi over a decade ago.
\n\u201cIndia is one of the most heavily protected economies in the world, with very, very high tariffs, including on many products where the European Union has a competitive advantage,\u201d he told AFP.
\nWith its economy in the doldrums, the 27-member EU is also pushing to ease exports of spirits and wines and strengthen intellectual property rules.
\nIndia \u2014 the fastest-growing major economy in the world \u2014 wants easier market access for products such as textiles and pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n
Defence pact
\nEU officials were tight-lipped about the deal\u2019s contents as negotiations are ongoing.
\nBut agriculture, a sensitive topic in both India and Europe, is likely to play a limited role, with New Delhi eager to protect its dairy and grain sectors.
\nTalks are focusing on a few sticking points, including the impact of the EU\u2019s carbon border tax on steel exports and safety and quality standards in the pharmaceutical and automotive sectors, according to people familiar with the discussions.
\nStill, EU officials said they were confident negotiations could be concluded in time for the summit.
\nAn accord on mobility to facilitate movement for seasonal workers, students, researchers and highly skilled professionals, is also on the menu, alongside a security and defence pact.
\nThe latter envisages closer cooperation in areas including maritime security, cybersecurity and counter-terrorism, an EU official said. It is also a \u201cprecondition\u201d for the possible joint production of military equipment, said a second EU official.
\nNew Delhi, which has relied on Moscow for decades for key military hardware, has tried to cut its dependence on Russia in recent years by diversifying imports and pushing its own domestic manufacturing base.
\nEurope is doing the same vis-\u00e0-vis the US.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re ready to open a new chapter in EU-India relationships, and really to unlock what we think is the transformative potential of this partnership,\u201d said another EU official.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Europe and India seek closer ties with \u2018mother of all deals\u2019 Monitoring Desk New Delhi India and Europe hope to strike the \u201cmother of all deals\u201d when European Union (EU) chiefs meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi next week, as the two economic behemoths seek to forge closer ties. Facing challenges from China […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-527520","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n