EU and India re-open talks over strategic partnership while prepare for a Free Trade Agreement

Handshake between Narendra Modi, Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker (from left to right) Date: 30/03/2016 / Source: EC – Audiovisual Service / Location: Brussels - Council / Photo: Justus Lipsius

Handshake between Narendra Modi, Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker (from left to right) Date: 30/03/2016 / Source: EC – Audiovisual Service / Location: Brussels – Council / Photo: Justus Lipsius

Last Wednesday, on the 30th of March, the European Union and India officially resumed a long-standing conversation over their strategic partnership, holding the 13th EU-India Summit in Brussels. After four years of stagnation, the Asian giant and the 28-member bloc met to set out concrete priority actions for the strategic partnership in areas like trade and investment, climate, energy, water and migration in the next five years. Last week’s summit indeed produced a list of key-points and commitments that took the usual EU-India partnership far beyond its traditional core on trade and politics. The leaders have expressed their commitment to further strengthen the EU-India economic partnership, and listed a series of initiatives to create new opportunities “for mutually beneficial cooperation between people and businesses on both sides”, as declared in a joint statement. Efforts on climate change As an element of innovation, leaders of the EU and India wanted to put an extra focus on climate change and environmental issues in general. During the Brussels meeting, EU and India decided to step up their cooperation to fight climate change and adopted the “Joint Declaration between the EU and India on a Clean Energy and Climate Partnership”. The climate dialogue with India intends to reinforce energy cooperation, “mainly on renewable energy sources, promote clean energy generation and increased energy efficiency”, as declared by EU’s spokesperson at the morrow of the meeting. The EU and India agreed to address environmental challenges and work together towards sustainable development through practical schemes and projects. The “Joint Declaration by the European Union and the Republic of India on Indo-European Water Partnership”, which was adopted at the Summit, set a new approach on strengthening technological, scientific and management capabilities in the field of water management and supports the Indian ‘Clean Ganga’ and ‘Clean India’ flagship projects. Business side up Obviously, business represented the lion’s share in the Brussels summit, and both delegations pushed to make the most of it. As a first result, the European Investment Bank signed an agreement with India to support long-term investment in infrastructure towards the construction of the Lucknow Metro’s first line, and released the first tranche of €200 million of its total €450 million. The bank also announced upcoming establishment in New Delhi of the Bank’s regional representation for South Asia amid the greetings of Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, who participated in the Summit. A doorway to a free trade pact The two parts also endorsed the “EU-India Agenda for Action-2020” setting out a concrete road-map for the EU-India Strategic Partnership for the next five years, which is something that represents a pillar of the EU-India cooperation. The 2020 framework indeed seems to be the doorway for a much more comprehensive EU-India free trade agreement, which has been pending since 2007. Although concrete steps towards the free trade pact between the two economic powers are still missing, it seems like the summit managed to somehow revive the interest in a concrete discussion and to relaunch the long-standing strategic partnership. The size of the opportunity speaks for itself: the total value of EU-India trade stood at €77.5 billion in 2015. The EU is currently India’s largest trading partner, accounting for 13% of India’s overall trade, ahead of China (9.6%) and the United States (8.5%). India is the EU’s 9th largest partner, with the value of EU exports to India amounting to €38.1 billion in 2015. “The leaders welcomed that both sides have re-engaged in discussions with a view to considering how to further the EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) negotiations”, the EU-India official statement briefly said, without mentioning any possible completion date. “[The] EU and India will continue discussions on a possible FTA at a high-level”, Indian press quotes Tomasz Kozlowski, EU Ambassador to India, as saying. Stalling negotiations The BTIA negotiations, after having remained in standstill for years, represent indeed the biggest knot for future EU-India developments. Growing differences regarding greater market access, much higher import duties and a complex tariff system have created a sort of dead-end through the years for the realization of a trade pact between the two blocs. The EU has repeatedly demanded for India to lower its tariffs on automobiles and wine products as a condition for resuming FTA negotiations. India, for its part, has been demanding from the EU for a long time now to lower import duties on a range of commodities, on top of a request classified a data-safe country, which will help Indian information technology Industry. Despite trade in commercial services between the EU and India has quadrupled in the past decade, increasing from €5.2 billion in 2002 to €24.4 billion in 2014, many reports would show a slight decrease in the last two years. Hot open questions Among the reasons for stalled talks between the EU and India, the EU’s concern over human right violations in India have played an important role. Sensitive issues, like the trial of two Italian marines accused of killing Indian fishermen in 2012, are also worth mentioning. In 2012, India arrested two Italian marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who were escorting an oil tanker on suspicion of shooting dead two fishermen they mistook for pirates. Though they were not charged, the two were barred from leaving India. A long controversy between Italy and India started ever since, with the Southern European country asking for the pair to be processed in Italy, and India determined to manage the trial. Last week’s summit didn’t see any substantial progress on that matter though. The new agenda EU-India relations could be on the edge of a real change nonetheless. Considering that just a year ago, while on a visit to the Old Continent, the Indian Prime Minister Modi dropped Brussels from his itinerary and planned to see leaders of countries like Germany and the UK separately, this year the meeting has an enormous importance already. The new EU-India Agenda for Action-2020, published right after the end of the summit, indeed openly pushes for radical changes, with a new approach to “Make full use of the existing institutional mechanisms to resolve trade irritants in particular concerning goods, services and investments, and strengthen trade and investment relations”, as written in one of the 11 trade points. The agenda also treated the “creation of favourable circumstances for investment” and a plan to “strengthen exchange of experience and deepen cooperation on public procurement, customs and competition policy”. The joint statement the two super-powers issued last week spoke about two “global partners and the world’s largest democracies” that are committed to strengthen a strategic partnership “based on shared values and principles”. After four years of silence, that surely sounds like a big step forward.

Discover more from The European Sting - Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology - europeansting.com

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Interesting reads

This article is published in association with United Nations.

How the Hormuz crisis keeps disrupting kitchens, ports and paychecks

This article is published in association with United Nations. The fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran may have eased fears of a wider regional war, but persistent instability around the Strait of Hormuz continues to disrupt global trade, drive up energy costs and fuel a growing jobs and cost-of-living crisis. The fallout is being […]
© UNFPA Ukraine In March 2026, a maternity hospital in Odesa, Ukraine was attacked by Russian forces.

World News in Brief: More attacks in Ukraine, violence against children in Haiti, refugee IDs in Africa

This article is published in association with United Nations. Civilians, including humanitarians, continue to face great danger across war-torn Ukraine amid ongoing hostilities, according to the UN humanitarian relief coordination office there, OCHA. Over the past three days, frontline attacks killed at least 11 civilians and injured nearly 200 others, including five children, as reported by […]
UN Photo/Milton Grant Sculpture depicting St. George slaying the dragon. The dragon is created from fragments of Soviet SS-20 andUnited States Pershing nuclear missiles.

Nuclear terror threat ‘has never been so high’

This article is published in association with United Nations. The widespread availability of new technology, such as militarised drones and artificial intelligence, means that the current threat of nuclear terrorism is higher than it has ever been. The humanitarian, environmental, and economic consequences of a radiological or nuclear terrorist attack would be global, undermining international peace […]
© UNICEF/Nyan Zay Htet Recent disruptions to energy supplies and global supply chains have reverberated across development and humanitarian sectors, including relief efforts in Myanmar, where millions remain in need of assistance.

Global energy and trade disruption pushing millions towards poverty

This article is published in association with United Nations. Disruptions to global energy supplies and trade corridors are driving up the cost of food, transport and essential goods worldwide, slowing economic growth and increasing pressure on vulnerable households and debt-strapped developing countries. The warnings came during a special meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council […]
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe UN Relief Chief Tom Fletcher (centre) along with Ambassador Mike Waltz (right) and Jeremy P. Lewin of the United States hold a joint press briefing on funding to the humanitarian system.

UN welcomes $1.8 billion US boost for humanitarian operations

This article is published in association with United Nations. An additional $1.8 billion in US humanitarian funding will allow the United Nations and its partners to expand emergency relief operations reaching millions of people worldwide, as rising global needs and funding shortfalls force aid agencies to scale back assistance. The funding announcement, made on Wednesday by […]
© WHO/Hanan Balkhy Displaced families are living in overcrowded tents and makeshift shelters, surrounded by waste and debris, with limited access to safe water and sanitation services.

World News in Brief: Mounting waste in Gaza, drone attacks in Sudan, aid truck struck in Ukraine

This article is published in association with United Nations. Mounting waste and limited access to sanitation sites are deepening health risks for families across Gaza, as humanitarian workers warn that overcrowded dumping areas and worsening living conditions threaten vulnerable communities. Ramiz Alakbarov, UN’s top aid official in Occupied Palestinian Territory visited a dumping site in Gaza […]
This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Mr. Franco Miguel Nodado, a 4th-year medical student from the Philippines. He is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

Autism Spectrum Disorders in Global Health: Bridging the Gap in  Awareness, Early Diagnosis, and Inclusive Care 

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Ms. Georgia Maria Vardalachaki, a medical student from the Medical University of Crete, Greece. She is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s […]
© WHO/Hedinn Halldorsson WHO Director-General Tedros and a health expert during operations involving the MV Hondius off Tenerife amid the hantavirus response.

Hantavirus-hit ship evacuation completed as quarantines begin

This article is published in association with United Nations. The passengers and crew have disembarked from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius in Tenerife and many have returned to their home countries, as the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said the operation demonstrated a “triumph of solidarity”. The repatriation effort, coordinated by Spanish authorities with support […]
© NASA The Strait of Hormuz which separates the United Arab Emirates and Iran is a strategically important shipping route

Strait of Hormuz de-escalation is urgent, says UN chief

This article is published in association with United Nations. As the Strait of Hormuz crisis deepens and tensions between Iran and the United States remain unresolved, oil prices rose again early Monday, prompting the UN Secretary-General to call for a peaceful resolution and warn of the widening fallout across Africa and beyond. “My strong appeal is […]
This article is published in association with United Nations.

Ukraine: Over 3,000 attacks on healthcare since full-scale Russian invasion

This article is published in association with United Nations. The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified more than 3,000 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the UN agency reported on Friday. “During 1,534 days of war, Ukraine’s healthcare system has experienced repeated attacks,” it said.  Every aspect of the system has been […]
WHO Passengers from MV Hondius assisted by Spanish and WHO health teams after disembarking.

Passengers leave hantavirus-hit cruise ship in Tenerife as WHO says outbreak ‘not another COVID’

This article is published in association with United Nations. Passengers and crew from the cruise ship MV Hondius began disembarking in Tenerife on Sunday under a tightly coordinated international health operation led by Spanish authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO), as officials sought to reassure the public that the outbreak “is not another COVID.” The […]
Nuclear energy in the Middle East: A realistic choice or a risk?

Nuclear energy in the Middle East: A realistic choice or a risk?

This article is published in association with United Nations. As global electricity demand grows, so does the popularity of nuclear energy. In the Middle East, several countries are evaluating or advancing nuclear power projects, balancing weighty issues such as regional security, climatic conditions and international cooperation. “Nuclear energy is at the intersection of energy demands, technological […]
© NASA The Strait of Hormuz which separates the United Arab Emirates and Iran is a strategically important shipping route

Bahrain and US float Security Council resolution on the Strait of Hormuz

This article is published in association with United Nations. Bahrain and the United States have circulated a draft Security Council resolution calling for Iran to cease attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, their ambassadors outlined to journalists at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday. The text is supported by Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the […]
© CDC An enhanced microscopic image shows the Hantavirus.

Hantavirus outbreak: Another passenger contracts disease

This article is published in association with United Nations. It’s been confirmed that another passenger from the cruise liner linked to the outbreak of hantavirus has contracted the disease, which has claimed the lives of three people on board and sparked an international alert coordinated by the UN World Health Organization (WHO). The individual, who is […]
This article is published in association with United Nations.

UN warns of worsening human rights crisis in Mali after deadly attacks

This article is published in association with United Nations. The human rights situation in Mali is rapidly deteriorating following coordinated attacks by armed groups across the country, with civilians killed, displaced and cut off from food and aid, UN rights office OHCHR said on Tuesday. The violence, which erupted on 25 and 26 April, saw large-scale […]
© UNICEF A damaged ambulance in Tebnine in southern Lebanon.

In Lebanon, the same fears and dangers persist despite ceasefire: UNHCR

This article is published in association with United Nations. Death and destruction have continued unabated in Lebanon while communities are still unable to return to their homes despite a ceasefire that began on 17 April, humanitarians said on Tuesday. “Civilians in the south of Lebanon and parts of the Bekaa [Valley] are really living with the […]
© Unsplash/Planet Volumes A computer-generated image shows the Strait of Hormuz.

Uncertainty continues over safety in the Strait of Hormuz

This article is published in association with United Nations. Amid claims and counter-claims of strikes and confrontations in the crucial Strait of Hormuz between Iran and the United States, UN maritime officials continue to urge vessels to exercise “maximum caution”. “We are aware of the reports but do not have further details. We continue to urge […]
© ADB/Ariel Javellana Women farmers in India sell wheat grain and buy fertilizer with the proceeds.

Middle East crisis puts aid, food, fuel further out of reach for millions already struggling – UN agencies

This article is published in association with United Nations. As the Middle East crisis continues the humanitarian fallout is worsening, with aid route disruptions and food and fuel price hikes wrecking the lives and the rights of the most vulnerable people worldwide, UN agencies warned on Friday. Heightened insecurity and instability around key Gulf routes, including […]
© Unsplash/Angus Gray Ship transits through the Strait of Hormuz have dropped by over 90 per cent since the crisis escalated in late February 2026.

Hormuz crisis strangling global economy, Guterres warns, demanding solutions to end stalemate

This article is published in association with United Nations. The escalating crisis in the Strait of Hormuz could push tens of millions into poverty, trigger a surge in global hunger and even tip the world towards recession, the UN Secretary-General warned on Thursday. António Guterres decried the restrictions on free passage through the crucial chokepoint which […]

Why don't you drop your comment here?

Go back up

Discover more from The European Sting - Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology - europeansting.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Discover more from The European Sting - Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology - europeansting.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

The European Sting – Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology – europeansting.com