european ties relationship between india and european union

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7/23/2019 European Ties Relationship Between India and European Union http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/european-ties-relationship-between-india-and-european-union 1/3 lexquest.in http://lexquest.in/indo-european-ties-relationship-india-european-unio LexQuest March 2, 2015 Indo-European Ties: Relationship between India and European Union By Juš Černovšek, Lawyer, Slovenia. In the words of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy : “The European Union (EU) and India share both aspirations and fundamental values, notably a commitment to multilateralism in world affairs. We should bolster our relationship not as an end in itself, but with a real sense of purpose«[1] There is no doubt that India and EU should be important partners in economic and political views. But i that really so? Is the strategic partnership between the two really strategic? This article reflects on the relations between the EU and India and tries to point out the differences and similarities and especially the potential that this relationship has. On one hand it tries to analyze the biggest problems of the relationship while on the other explains the current situations and advantages that come from it. The EU-India bilateral relations have more historical precedence than most others, going back as early as the 1960s. In 1994, the two parties signed a Co-Operation Agreement resulting in annual summits between the two parties and it has laid the foundation for current relations. In 2004, the Co-Operation Agreement was expanded upo via the accord of a Joint Action Plan that made India one of the EU’s primary ‘strategic partners’. Revised in 2008, th  Action Plan fosters cooperation on issues of international security, the development of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and the bilateral collaboration on climate change.[2] The EU-28 is India’s largest trading partner, accounting f roughly 15 percent of total trade in goods and services. It is an important market for India’s export of textiles, appare pharmaceuticals, gems, jewelry and IT. The EU is also the largest source of FDI inflows to India, accounting for ove one-fourth of the total. [3]  As stated India and EU also cooperate on the field of security, especially Terrorism. Both have in 2010, signed a Joi Declaration in which they »Condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, whereve and for whatever purpose«[4] India has also played a key role in failed state initiatives such as the Sri Lankan Civil War in the late 80s and in Afghanistan over the past decade. [5] But how do these agreements translate in to practice? Is the cooperation with the EU and India reaching its potentia Despite important economic gains that come from the relationship, EU and India are still trying to conclude the FTA which the negotiations started in 2007 but is on thin ice since 2011 and it does not seem that it will be agreed upon the near future. The conclusion of the agreement would represent a major achievement in the economic relations, as the agreement has enormous potential in fostering the growth of the European and Indian markets. Even though numerous agreements were already made and negotiated the concrete cooperation is still severely lacking. According to the study made by academics Stephan Keukeleire and Bas Hooijmaaijers which analyzes the voting patterns in the United Nations General Assembly between India and the (then) 27 EU member states from 2004-2010. On issues of international security, India and the member states of the EU cast the same response between 20 – 47 percent most of the times. The study shows fundamental differences in how the EU and India view their role in the global community. India is far less concerned with being a global actor than the EU, and seemingly prefers specific agreements that will help growth before all else. [6] India also has different views on global governance issues and multilateralism, it strongly supports respect for national sovereignty and prefers legally non- binding commitments agreed by consensus, while the EU is in general a strong proponent of international legally binding commitments as well as powerful international regimes. The EU encourages social protection, respect for th

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7/23/2019 European Ties Relationship Between India and European Union

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/european-ties-relationship-between-india-and-european-union 1/3

lexquest.in http://lexquest.in/indo-european-ties-relationship-india-european-unio

LexQuest March 2,2015

Indo-European Ties: Relationship between India and European

Union

By Juš Černovšek, Lawyer, Slovenia.

In the words of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy : “TheEuropean Union (EU) and India share both aspirations and fundamental values, notably a commitment tomultilateralism in world affairs. We should bolster our relationship not as an end in itself, but with a real sense of purpose«[1] There is no doubt that India and EU should be important partners in economic and political views. But ithat really so? Is the strategic partnership between the two really strategic? This article reflects on the relationsbetween the EU and India and tries to point out the differences and similarities and especially the potential that thisrelationship has. On one hand it tries to analyze the biggest problems of the relationship while on the other explainsthe current situations and advantages that come from it.

The EU-India bilateral relations have more historical precedence than most others, going back as early as the1960s. In 1994, the two parties signed a Co-Operation Agreement resulting in annual summits between the twoparties and it has laid the foundation for current relations. In 2004, the Co-Operation Agreement was expanded upovia the accord of a Joint Action Plan that made India one of the EU’s primary ‘strategic partners’. Revised in 2008, th Action Plan fosters cooperation on issues of international security, the development of the Free Trade Agreement(FTA), and the bilateral collaboration on climate change.[2] The EU-28 is India’s largest trading partner, accounting froughly 15 percent of total trade in goods and services. It is an important market for India’s export of textiles, apparepharmaceuticals, gems, jewelry and IT. The EU is also the largest source of FDI inflows to India, accounting for oveone-fourth of the total.[3]

 As stated India and EU also cooperate on the field of security, especially Terrorism. Both have in 2010, signed a JoiDeclaration in which they »Condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, whereveand for whatever purpose«[4] India has also played a key role in failed state initiatives such as the Sri Lankan CivilWar in the late 80s and in Afghanistan over the past decade.[5]

But how do these agreements translate in to practice? Is the cooperation with the EU and India reaching its potentiaDespite important economic gains that come from the relationship, EU and India are still trying to conclude the FTA which the negotiations started in 2007 but is on thin ice since 2011 and it does not seem that it will be agreed upon the near future. The conclusion of the agreement would represent a major achievement in the economic

relations, as the agreement has enormous potential in fostering the growth of the European and Indian

markets.

Even though numerous agreements were already made and negotiated the concrete cooperation is still severelylacking. According to the study made by academics Stephan Keukeleire and Bas Hooijmaaijers which analyzes thevoting patterns in the United Nations General Assembly between India and the (then) 27 EU member states from2004-2010. On issues of international security, India and the member states of the EU cast the same responsebetween 20 – 47 percent most of the times. The study shows fundamental differences in how the EU and India viewtheir role in the global community. India is far less concerned with being a global actor than the EU, and seeminglyprefers specific agreements that will help growth before all else.[6] India also has different views on globalgovernance issues and multilateralism, it strongly supports respect for national sovereignty and prefers legally non-binding commitments agreed by consensus, while the EU is in general a strong proponent of international legallybinding commitments as well as powerful international regimes. The EU encourages social protection, respect for th

7/23/2019 European Ties Relationship Between India and European Union

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/european-ties-relationship-between-india-and-european-union 2/3

environment and human rights, while India is rather reluctant to let its economic growth and development be limitedby concerns about these issues.[7]

These findings are worrying for the EU and for its ambition to project its values as a normative power. The EUconsiders human rights issues as highly important in its foreign policy and easily assumes that this position is shareby other democratic countries in the world. However, the data demonstrate that the EU significantly differs on theseissues with an important country that the EU not only has designated as a strategic partner, but that it also perceiveas a full-fledged democracy. The observation that India and the EU member states do not cast identical votes on

human rights issues in the UNGA can be explained by India‘s strong preference to respect the national sovereignty third countries and to uphold the principles of non-intervention and equality between nations. These principles or values are considered more important than the promotion of human rights and democracy which – at least in the EUformal discourse – figure at the top of the EU‘s priorities. The launch of the EU-India strategic partnership in 2004 sofar does not seem to have helped the EU and India to overcome their different approaches.[8]

Despite the stated problems, the relationship between India and EU has a bright future and should be looked upon aa great opportunity. Trade between the two has more than doubled from €25.6 billion (US$36.7 billion) in 2000 to55.6 billion euros in 2007, with further expansion to be seen.[9] Furthermore, the EU pledged up to 470 million Eurofrom 2007-2013 that focused EU funds on the Joint Action Plan and especially education and healthcare initiativeswithin India. Such further agreements only highlight the increased importance of the partnership. It seems that EU w

again step up and work harder to improve the relations with India, not only on economical level but also on the fieldsof human rights and climate change. As Neena Gill, a vice-chair of parliament’s delegation for relations with Indiasaid: »The organization of an EU-India summit in 2015 will be crucial in making sure New Delhi is put back on our agenda – and vice versa. Bringing relations under an EU framework will allow us to deliver results that far exceed thcombined outcome of bilateral agreements with individual EU member states. If we want the strategic partnershipwith India to be worthy of its name, we will need to develop a substantive agenda for the summit, have a clear idea the results we want to achieve, and secure the budget necessary to make this happen. It is high time to fire up thecircuits, and de-ice the EU-India relationship.”[10]

[1] Catherine Ashton, New Delhi, 2010 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-10-336_en.htm?locale=en

[2] Akasha Radia, Examining The EU-India Relationship Dynamic,https://isiseurope.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/examining-the-eu-india-relationship-dynamic/.

[3] Ritesh Kumar Singh & Prachi Priya, What’s Holding Back the India-EU FTA?,http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/whats-holding-back-the-india-eu-fta/.

[4] EU – India Joint declaration on International Terrorism, Brussels 2010,http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/118405.pdf .

[5] Ibid 2.

[6] Ibid 2.

[7] Stephan Keukeleire and Bas Hooijmaaijers, EU-India relations and multilateral governance: where is the „strategpartnership‟?, page 120, FPRC Journal, 2013.

[8] Ibidem 7.

[9] EU, India to expand cooperation, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/30/content_10135165.htm.

[10] Neena Gill, Time to de-ice’ EU-India relations, https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/opinion/time-de-ice-eu-india-relations.

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