The European Parliament Committee on Agriculture debated, on Monday 10 January, the draft opinion of Ivan David (ID, Czech Republic) on future EU-India trade and investment cooperation.
The European Commission notes that the deficit in agricultural and food trade between the EU and India is as high as €1.4 billion a year for the bloc, said the DG AGRI director for international affairs, John Clarke.
He stressed “the opportune moment” of a free trade agreement with India. This would reduce the EU’s large trade deficit by reducing or eliminating some of the tariff barriers.
Regarding the risk of unfair competition raised by some MEPs, John Clarke assured that compliance with health standards was “non-negotiable”. “As part of the Farm to Fork strategy, we are looking at the possibility of applying the relevant environmental standards to imports, which would then apply to India”, he added.
The Commission will also seek commitments from India on labour rights and said that specific negotiations on geographical indications will start with India “in a few weeks”. After a break of eight years, the Commission had announced the resumption of talks with India in May of 2021 (see EUROPE 12716/4).
See the Draft opinion: https://bit.ly/3HYW2RN (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)