Britain raises EU standard in India

Date: 26/05/05

At the British High Commission in New Delhi, a second flag pole is being erected. This means the UK will fly the EU as well as the British flag during its upcoming presidency - not insignificant in Delhi since an EU-India summit will take place here in September, with Tony Blair leading the EU side.

In Brussels and Delhi, civil servants are hard at work negotiating the final details of an action plan, to be launched at the summit, which aims to put flesh on the bones of the EU-India strategic partnership agreed last autumn at their Hague summit. Officials talk of a relationship that is moving forward rapidly: no longer limited, in the words of one European Commission official, "to textiles, anti-dumping and other trade irritants" but developing to cover discussions on multilateralism, conflict prevention and terrorism, to economic partnership moving beyond development issues, talks on energy and the environment, and to greater cultural and civil society interaction.

India is seen to have taken particular satisfaction last year in becoming a strategic partner, recognition it sees of its status as an emerging global player. Even so the Indian side was a bit taken aback when 100 EU officials descended on Delhi in February for a first discussion of the action plan. According to diplomats present, both sides have a tendency at times to talk past and to misunderstand each other.

The EU is India's most important market with trade in 2003 reaching 28 billion €, 25% of Indian exports, and foreign direct investment from the EU at 4bn €, although overall India's trade with Asia-Pacific markets is even larger. Indian markets are not yet of the same importance to the EU economy, but India is increasingly seen as a market to enter now, given its growth trend over the coming decades. Indian commentators are confident that with their country's rapidly growing population, its English language and information technology skills, it will become an increasingly important location for EU business.

Yet despite this, some see EU-India relations as having a long way to go, with lack of mutual understanding seen as particularly important. The Indian elites have a very hazy notion of what today's Union is. One senior diplomat from a large EU country based in Delhi says: "The EU is understood as trade and the World Trade Organisation but the rest is less clear to people, and things like Schengen are obscure, since the UK is not part of it." The Indians frequently see the EU through a British lens, including through the British media.

Bilateral relations with the big four EU countries remain very important, especially those with the UK. But the Indians reject complaints from smaller member states that they focus too much on the larger members, saying that whether the relationship is more bilateral or EU-level is up to the Union side to decide and also depends on whether the EU develops a genuine common foreign policy.

Some EU officials give a more upbeat view, saying that the Indians now understand the nature of the EU and come directly to the Commission when there is a market access issue, and/or lobby the European Parliament, but go to the member states if they want to promote foreign investment. One Indian official agrees, saying that while before the UK was the most important European relationship, in the last four tofive years there has been a shift to the EU.

Nonetheless, outside official circles confusion is widespread: one leading daily, The Hindu, in a recent editorial listed India's six main trade partners as including "the UK and the EU".

Some Indian academics see the mid-21st century as likely to be dominated by the US, China and India with no mention of Europe at all. Yet not only is the EU India's largest single trade partner but it is also one of its largest development aid donors, with the EU and member states combined providing over a quarter of aid in the last five years. There is also growing activity on economic co-operation and technical assistance. An internal debate exists within the Commission and across the member states as to whether the best strategy to contribute to India's development is through poverty-focused schemes or by encouraging sustained economic growth and job creation.

Perhaps the new strategic partnership will start to increase EU awareness in India and awareness of India in the EU. There are many similarities between the two, from having over 20 states and almost as many languages, to problems in co-ordinating Union and state competences, and to managing modern pluralist multicultural democracies. The EU-India summit this September provides a good platform to push this mutual understanding and co-operation forward.

• Kirsty Hughes is a researcher based in New Delhi, India.

Major analysis feature looking at the EU's relations with India. Preview of the September 2005 EU-India summit where an action plan was expected to be launched for a strategic partnership covering a much wider range of issues than in the past.

EEAS: Countries: India http://www.eeas.europa.eu/india/index_en.htm

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