By adopting its joint communication on a strategic agenda with India on Wednesday 17 September, the European Union aims to strengthen economic security, diversify its supply chains and identify areas of geopolitical divergence with India.
The aim of this communication is to pave the way for negotiations on a new common strategic agenda (see EUROPE 13589/1), which should be adopted at an EU-India summit in January 2026.
Before that, the EU heads of state or government should approve this joint communication at their European summit on 23 and 24 October, “to show that this is not just an EU institutional exercise”, emphasised a European official.
Working despite geopolitical disagreements. In particular, this communication comes against a backdrop of friction, where India has participated in military exercises organised by Russia and has increased its imports of Russian crude oil at reduced prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, acknowledged that these actions “stand in the way of closer ties”. “Because, at the end of the day, our partnership is not just about trade, but also about defending a rules-based international order”, she told a press conference.
While the communication does mention the EU’s willingness to discuss with India “all aspects of countering Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine”, it stops short of mentioning the possibility of applying secondary sanctions or customs duties against New Delhi, as US President Donald Trump would like.
Ms Kallas also remained vague about the possibility of ending negotiations on the Joint Strategic Agenda if India did not provide sufficient guarantees of support for the Russian war effort.
Focus on security, defence and connectivity. Despite this, the EU believes that closer cooperation with India “is more important than ever” and “a strategic priority”. The EU-India Communication underlines the political will on both sides to strengthen cooperation in terms of security and defence, in line with the joint declaration adopted at the end of the College of Commissioners’ visit to New Delhi last February (see EUROPE 13590/1).
For several months now, the two sides have been working to establish a security and defence partnership between the EU and India, based on the EU’s partnership models with Japan and South Korea (see EUROPE 13517/10).
A section of the communication is also devoted to security and space technology, “an area in which we have not yet collaborated intensively with India”, stressed a European official.
The EU also stresses the importance of connectivity between regions. The intention is to continue work on the IMEC (India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor), but also to strengthen trilateral cooperation.
“So it’s a question of projecting the relationship between the EU and India into our relations with third countries, including Africa, where we can work in a number of areas, including the achievement of the sustainable development goals”, explained the same official.
More importantly, the EU wants to increase trade flows with India. In fact, it is the first pillar of the strategy published on Wednesday 17 September. The EU reiterates its commitment to concluding negotiations on a trade agreement with India by the end of the year and to making progress in discussions on an agreement on investment protection.
Timid progress on the commercial front. However, this is still an uncertain prospect. At the press conference to present the new strategic agenda, the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič, returned to his visit to India last week, where he concluded the 13th round of negotiations on the trade agreement. “I admit however that I had hoped for more progress to be achieved last week”, he lamented.
For New Delhi, trade in agricultural products is particularly complex, with the country imposing export restrictions on these products. “Certain sensitive products can be left out and we agreed on this very early on”, explained the European Commissioner. “I was therefore hopeful that we would be able to conclude the chapters on agriculture last week, but unfortunately this was not possible”. For Maroš Šefčovič, India must now take a step towards the EU and propose solutions that are acceptable to European co-legislators.
To see the communication: https://aeur.eu/f/ih4 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal and Pauline Denys)