The following article originally appeared in the Hindustan Times on February 26, 2025.
European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen is visiting India along with the college of European Commissioners for a major summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian government. This represents an unprecedented opportunity to consolidate a strategic agenda between the European Union (EU) and India. Despite shared attributes as large, diverse, and democratic entities, relations between the EU and India have traditionally been marked by missed opportunities and misunderstandings — a contrast to the dynamism that has marked both their relationships with the United States (US). But several recent developments create opportunities to overcome some of the old cliches Europeans and Indians have of each other and forge a forward-looking and broad-based partnership.
Geopolitics: The EU and India both have apprehensions about China’s economic and manufacturing supremacy threatening employment and businesses at home. They are also both adapting to a mercurial US seeking to reset the terms of its international engagement. With mounting security and sustainability challenges, both seek to surmount defence supply chain constraints and volatile global energy markets. Under these circumstances, the EU and India are now actively seeking new partners that offer market access, technological collaborations, structural stability, and scale.
Trade and investment: An EU-India trade agreement was under negotiation for many years before being suspended in 2013. This contributed to cynicism about the prospects of a trade deal that continues to this day, despite talks being relaunched in 2022. The EU seeks a high-quality trade agreement that India believes offers unequal benefits; meanwhile, India remains concerned about European intransigence over impossibly high standards and non-tariff barriers. However, the EU concluded a trade agreement with South American countries (Mercosur) in 2024, while India has recently finalised four trade agreements, including with a bloc of high-income European countries: Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. An EU-India trade deal may still prove elusive but there is a growing appetite in both capitals for practical and creative — even if imperfect — solutions.
A wider Europe: In recent years, India has adopted a wider approach to Europe, which until a decade ago was characterised primarily by stronger Indian bilateral relations with the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. In a post-Brexit environment, India has broadened relations with the Nordic and Baltic countries (including a regular Nordic Summit and new Baltic embassies); revisited relations with Central and Eastern Europe (involving Modi’s visit to Poland); and deepened ties with southern Europe (especially Spain, Italy, and Greece) including on defence and infrastructure. In relative terms, capitals such as Rome, Warsaw, Madrid, and Copenhagen matter much more to New Delhi than they did a decade ago.
Connectivity: Part of India’s greater interest in Southern Europe is motivated by developments in West Asia that enabled the announcement of an India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) in late 2023. This effort connects the European and Indian economies, builds resilience around West Asian chokepoints, and takes advantage of better relations between the Gulf Arab States and Israel. For India, exploring the possibility of investment and collaboration in Mediterranean ports such as Marseille, Trieste, and Thessaloniki and joint projects in West Asia widen the aperture for commercial opportunities.
Mobility and talent: Immigration has become a politically fraught issue in much of Europe, contributing to the rise of explicitly anti-immigrant political parties. But a combination of declining European demographics and the need for tech talent, growing Indian interest in higher education opportunities, and shared concerns about human trafficking have contributed to the conclusion of several mobility agreements, such as between India and Germany. These create protocols for dealing with illicit or undocumented migration while increasing opportunities for businesspeople, tourists, students, and temporary workers. Combined with greater investments in Global Capability Centres (GCCs) — hubs for multinational corporate operations in India — such agreements present an opportunity to take advantage of human capital in a manner that advances both European and Indian interests.
Technology: India is the only country, other than the US, with which the EU has a Trade and Technology Council (TTC). Under their TTC, a first working group was established to cooperate on artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and digital public infrastructure (DPI); a second was intended to facilitate cooperation on green and clean energy, including wastewater management and raw materials; and a third was meant for supply chain security and investment screening. But the opportunities for wider cooperation on technology — where India and the EU sometimes have similar approaches to regulation and safety — remain underdeveloped. The recent AI Action Summit co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Modi represents one attempt at jointly leading on global norms and standards when it comes to emerging tech.
Overall, there is still a long way to go for the EU and India to fully realise their strategic partnership. Despite a history of engagement and some important material cooperation in the 20th century, there have been decades of underinvestment in each other. Von der Leyen’s visit to India represents an opportunity to move the relationship into the 21st century, but only through dedicated efforts in both Brussels and New Delhi to improve cooperation on security, trade, connectivity, investment, mobility, and technology.
Dhruva Jaishankar is Executive Director at ORF America.