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India and the European Union are moving closer in their efforts to finalize a long-awaited Free Trade Agreement (FTA), as per Carnegie Europe Director Rosa Balfour. Speaking at the Carnegie Global Tech Summit, Balfour described India and the EU as “like-minded” when it comes to tackling global issues.
Decades in the Making: The FTA Talks Gain Momentum
Balfour emphasized that the discussions around the FTA are not new.
“We are already seeing quite an extraordinary escalation because the EU and India have actually been talking about the Free Trade Agreement for over 20 years.”
Despite the long history of negotiations, recent developments point to a renewed push to get the deal across the finish line.
According to Balfour, both sides align on fundamental principles.
“The EU and India on many issues are quite like-minded—they believe in WTO rules, they believe in working by those rules.”
However, she acknowledged that certain sensitive sectors, such as agriculture, remain sticking points.
She noted that the bar has been set high by both political leaders.
“The bar has been placed very high—the Prime Minister of India and the President of the European Commission have said that they should complete the free trade agreement by the end of the year. That might be slightly optimistic. But I think that if they set the bar so high, [they] will be under pressure to deliver,” Balfour explained.
Key Challenges and Considerations Ahead
Balfour raised questions about the depth and breadth of the eventual agreement.
“The question therefore, will be how deep the FTA will be or how thin it will be? If there are political problems around certain sets of goods or certain issues, for instance, climate or deforestation, which has been one of the problems that the EU has encountered with other countries, then maybe it will be an FTA that will exclude certain areas.”
This highlights the delicate balance negotiators must strike between ambition and practicality.
A Strategic Opportunity for Global Trade
Despite the hurdles, Balfour remains optimistic about the broader promise of the FTA.
“There’s a lot of promise in this (FTA). There’s a lot of promise to increase the exchange of goods, the mobility of people, the exchange of capital, investments, and technological cooperation. It seems to present the seeds of an alternative strategy to a global trade war.”
Her comments were echoed by German Ambassador to India and Bhutan, Philipp Ackermann, who also underlined the urgency of finalizing the agreement within this year.
During the 9th Carnegie Global Tech Summit, Ackermann reaffirmed the value of India-EU collaboration.
“We should not forget it is a time now, where those who believe in global and free trade, should join hands. This is the time where we should sit together and try to figure out what is possible in the moment of an FTA,” he said.
As momentum builds, both India and the EU appear poised to shape a trade agreement that could have wide-reaching implications for global commerce.
(With Inputs From ANI)
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