28/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - India - free trade discussions needed at highest level to facilitate agreement. The EU and India will have to be more flexible if they want to avoid negotiations floundering, warned Karel De Gucht, after a meeting of European trade ministers on 26 September. The two sides will have to resolve the most difficult questions, which range from customs duties on cars, wines and spirits, to intellectual property rights, public procurement and opening up the services market. In his address to the European Parliament on Tuesday 27 September, the commissioner for trade explained that discussions at the highest level with New-Delhi and President Barroso would be necessary if this agreement were to be concluded by the time of the bilateral annual EU-India summit in February 2012. (EH/transl.fl)