The Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, whose country took over the Presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 January, said on Thursday 7 January that the EU should have a 360-degree view of the world.
“We need to strengthen the EU’s capacity to act as a global player, but we must do so with a 360-degree view, remaining open to the world, because this is the European tradition. This is Europe’s geostrategic difference: its ability to have very close relations with the different world powers”, he explained during a virtual meeting with journalists.
The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU intends to place special emphasis on relations with India, with a summit on 8 May, which will be “a very important opportunity to reopen and bring our relations with India closer”, according to Costa.
Answering a question from EUROPE earlier in the day, the Portuguese Foreign Minister, Augusto Santos Silva, explained that his country wants to strengthen political and economic ties with New Delhi. “It would be incomprehensible if India and Europe, the two largest democracies in the world, did not have a political dialogue and a deep economic and social relationship”, he explained, recalling the ties that have united his country and India since the end of the 15th century.
The Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council hopes that the summit will lead to a political outcome, “a political and geopolitical dialogue between the EU and India”, according to the minister.
Santos Silva added that the EU could not ignore the trade agreement signed between 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region in November (see EUROPE 12602/33), believing that the Union should work with its partners and have balanced relations. “If you’re negotiating with China, you can’t ignore India, and if you’re working with India, you can’t ignore Japan, and so on”, he explained.
Furthermore, according to the minister, the EU must work on a new alliance with India on digital issues. “India is one of the most important international players in information technology, digital technology and the training of highly qualified human resources. We have to take advantage of this, and the Indians should benefit from the fact that the EU defines digital transformation as one of its objectives”, he added.
Finally, the head of Portuguese diplomacy hopes that the summit will break the deadlock in negotiations on a free trade agreement between the EU and India that has lasted since 2013 (see EUROPE 11989/7). “One of the aims of the summit is to give a new impetus to the negotiations on Euro-Indian investment and trade”, he said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)