Shubham Bhagat
Symbiosis School of International Studies, Pune
Schools and colleges across the world are going online, and so are conferences and summits. The year 2020, marks the arrival of a “novel” non-state actor, a new yet uncertain world order, but most importantly the 15th annual summit between India and the European Union. After a brief hiatus of two years, India and EU are back at the negotiating table to advance stalled economic agreements. The summit will also aim at cooperating on strengthening multilateralism by devising a global agenda based on “shared principles and values of democracy, freedom, rule of law, and respect for human rights”. The 15th summit will take place on the 15th of July, 2020 at 16.30 IST. Indian PM Shri Narendra Modi and Presidents of the European Council and Commission, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen will be leading the dialogue as per the agenda set by both the parties.
The summit will seek to address three key issues namely global cooperation on containing and eradicating the pandemic, reinvigorating multilateralism and fostering of bilateral relations between India and the EU bloc.
COVID 19
Dismayed by the WHO’s approach in containing the pandemic, the US President Donald Trump avowed that the country will officially withdraw its membership from the UN health agency over allegations of suppressing timely information, attributing its close ties with China. The US is WHO’s biggest donor in terms of assessed and voluntary contributions, accounting for 20% of the organization’s total contribution. Experts claim that such a move will not only impair global healthcare but will also increase operational costs in countries with other diseases and weak healthcare systems, eventually sapping the US’s influence in the WHO and giving China more room to manoeuvre. Meanwhile, China is having delusions of grandeur. One day, it talks about being a “Global Leader” and the other days, being a wolf warrior. There is a growing repugnance towards China of providing logically insufficient and fragmentary data, which allowed the spread of the virus outside the apparent Middle Kingdom. States, consequently have adopted unnecessarily evasive and refractory protectionist policies even for the most essential commodities, accentuating fault lines of an ever disunited world. As a result, the EU has called for greater global solidarity and has turned to India for its support. After the summit, it may well be expected that both parties will be art and part of developing vaccines and therapeutic vaccines against a baleful SARS-CoV-2 by exploiting each other’s industrial prowess via an exchange of accurate and timely research and development information.
“As the world continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the main task for everyone is to save lives and contain and mitigate this pandemic”
— EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT URSULA VON DER LEYEN AND THE EU’S FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF JOSEP BORRELL.
Global and Regional Issues:
“To maintain international peace and security”. Doesn’t this statement ring a bell? Surely, it does. This is the mission statement of the United Nations, an international organization, which has changed scantly in structure since its founding year, 1945. Let’s admit, the mission statement is simply vague and unreflecting of the present-day scenarios. The current state of global affairs is dramatically different than what it was 75 years ago and is marked by anarchy, aggression, and discouraging global cooperation. While the organization remained unavailing internationally, and so did the bilateral relation between India and the EU. The summit hence provides an opportunity for both parties to come together and reaffirm their commitments of reducing carbon emissions, enhancing digital and financial connectivity, and adhering to multilateral rule-based order to promote trade harmoniously. At the summit, the dignitaries may also discuss China’s “Belligerence First” policy and try to balance the power by signing defence agreements in manufacturing and transfer of technology under “Make in India”. Other talking points may include issues like cross-border terrorism and extremism, mass migration, Article 370 and CAA.
It is very much expected that the summit may wind up with minuscule outcomes, and hence shepherding a broken strategic partnership to a sustainable one is vitally important to both, India and the EU. While the world order falls apart country by country, India and the EU must reunite to uphold the principles of solidarity by building a strong narrative of global cooperation and peace for all.
“We are the world’s two largest democracies. We are two of the world’s biggest economies. We share the same values and the belief in freedom, equality, tolerance and the rule of law. Working together with a like-minded partner like India simply makes sense. It is natural”
— President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker at the 14th India – EU
Bilateral Relations:
There seems to be an increasing consonance on various themes between India and the EU, yet it remains to be seen whether the EU will back India’s actions on jettisoning Article 370 and implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019. For now, both parties will try to address the most pressing issue, the elephant in the room, Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement, also known as BTIA.
What’s holding back the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement?
The Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) was broadly initiated in Belgium, Brussels on June 28, 2007, to realize a Free Trade Agreement in sectors such as investments and goods and services. Since its inception, 16 rounds of negotiations have taken place, simply yielding to nothing but another round. The EU bloc will probably try talking India in reducing tariffs on their most promising export products. Currently, India imposes a 150 per cent duty on imported wines and spirits, a number which complies with the WTO rules. The EU will also seek to reduce the customs duty on European small and luxury variant cars exported to India. Likewise, India may ask the EU to open its gates for Indian agricultural, pharmaceutical and textile goods and IT professional services. India may also want the EU to recognize her as a data-secure country, a bone of contention which has lingered in the yard for a long time. Given that India needs to devise a “New Diaspora Policy” for the remigrating Indians, she may seek more liberalization for the movement of Indian professionals in the European Union.
In conclusion, the 15th India-EU summit evinces an opening for both the parties to prove that they can lead by example and that it remains in their best interest to deepen their relationship and broaden cooperation in the most pragmatic and responsive manner.
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