If we are looking ahead for a strong future for Indo-European Union (EU) relations, it has to go beyond crystal-gazing. The EU is now a conglomerate of 27 members, and come July 2013, it shall have 28 members with the inclusion of Croatia.

Traditionally, India has had strong bilateral relations with individual European nations, including the UK, France and Germany, but the EU as a whole hasn't been that interested in India, except as a soft power.

INDIA-EU TRADE

India-EU trade stands at roughly 67 billion Euros, according to Government of India figures, whereas China-EU trade is worth as much as 423 billion Euros.

The Indian government has projected an increase in India-EU trade to the tune of 150 billion Euros by 2015, which is still way below the current EU-China trade figures.

The Danish ambassador to India, Mr Freddy Svane, said there was a tendency among Indians to regard EU as a “non-governmental organisation”, at a recent international conference at Jawaharlal Nehru University in the Capital.

There is, perhaps, a perception in India to view EU as a grouping without much teeth, and too many disparate countries, some big, some small, and with an inward focus, given the current Euro-debt crisis.

India and the EU are expected to sign a Free Trade Agreement, but then the question is, are India and the EU engaging each other beyond trade?

There appears to some recognition of this aspect, and the fact that India is a democracy, committed to an open society.

But is this enough to forge and strengthen links? While India dithers, China continues to shift gears, and focus on EU.

The perception is that China is keen on buying up Greek assets, and move its currency reserves from the dollar to the euro. This hard-nosed attitude of China will get it more brownie points from EU than India, notwithstanding the shared democratic values.

Although Europe acknowledges the emergence of new global players, namely the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in a rapidly-changing scenario, it has to adapt and deal with the change.

The ambassador, Delegation of the European Union to India, Mr João Cravinho, said that although it had become a tradition to look at EU as a power in decline, figures show just the opposite.

The EU constitutes 7 per cent of the global population and 20 per cent of the global economy. It is the largest economic bloc. The US comes second with 19 per cent share of global economy, China, 14 per cent, and India, 7 per cent.

INDIA-EU FTA

There's no doubt that as countries queue up to become members of EU, its economy is likely to expand further.

If the India-EU FTA that has been in the pipeline comes through, it will be to the mutual benefit of both regions. India should leverage its economic might for political clout, as China often does.

In a scenario in which countries are increasingly interdependent financially, economically and politically, dominance by one or two nations is a thing of the past. This, therefore, puts major groupings such as EU and BRICS in a position of strength.

So far, most cooperation between India and member states of EU has taken place on a bilateral rather than multilateral platform.

This needs to change. India's partnership with the EU needs to be seen as a strategic need by both regions.

(The author is Assistant Professor, Apeejay Stya University, Haryana.)

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