While the second council of the EU-Indre Trade and Technology Council (TTC) is approaching, there is optimism in Brussels and New Delhi that a clear path can be found for a relationship often described as underdeveloped.
The TTC meeting in New Delhi on February 28 will mark the First major trip From the Complete team of Ursula von der Leyen.
While the EU has a TTC mechanism in place with only the United States and India, the mechanism itself has not yet made significant progress, supports the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) in a new analysis.
The Isas are published with the real potential for cooperation in practical terms, even if the two parties share strategic motivations.
Less China, less Russia
The reduction in dependence on China and Russia and the promotion of a multipolar world is objectives shared by the EU and India. While Europe seeks to collaborate with partners sharing the same ideas, India is looking for strategic autonomy and diversified partnerships.
The normative differences in digital governance, commercial disputes on market access and prices, and India’s skepticism towards EU environmental fiscal policies create obstacles, notes the ISAS report.
The TTC also remains limited to discussions at the government level without significant commitment to the private sector, which is essential for progress in key fields such as semiconductors, green energy and artificial intelligence (IA).
Modest expectations
The expectations on the side of India are modest and without concrete actions to deal with these obstacles, the TTC may remain an unexploited potential platform rather than an engine of real progress.
To succeed, the two parties must take advantage of their strategic alignment to overcome regulatory differences, expand participation beyond governments and launch joint technological projects which can fill gaps and promote more in-depth collaboration.
Learn from India
However, the digital European alliance PME considers TTC as a crucial platform for collaboration for Europe to learn from the Indian Digital Public Infrastructure model (DPI), in particular the Indian battery.
In a recent spurThe secretary general Sebastiano Toffaletti argues that the digital transformation of Europe could benefit from the principles that India applies, to transform access to financial and social services.
Europe has explored its own version of a digital infrastructure, “Eurostack”. Similarly to India Stack, it would integrate digital identity, secure payments and data governance while responding to sovereignty and security problems in the digital supply chain.
The main lessons of the India model include interoperability, public-private collaboration, large-scale adoption, inclusiveness, data governance and profitability through open source solutions.
Résilient digital ecosystem
These elements, maintains that Togletti, could help Europe reduce its dependence on suppliers of foreign technologies and to build a more resilient digital ecosystem. The reduction of dependencies against providers of American and Chinese technologies while promoting the diversification of the supply chain is a shared objective.
By adapting the approach of India to the unique context of Europe, the EU can improve its digital resilience and technological leadership while promoting more in -depth cooperation with India, concludes opinion.
With Donald Trump, who removed the White House from Europe, and with Brussels-Beijing relations in cold water, the EU understands that it must act as soon as possible and to forge more in-depth cooperation with this which she considers “partners sharing the same ideas”.
India, as a fifth world economy and the most populated nation, has ambitious plans to stimulate manufacturing and exports while committing worldwide thanks to multilateral partnerships, said The European Reform Center (CER).
A new series of talks on a free trade agreement proposed (ALE) program For Mars, shortly after the visit of the Von der Leyen team. Ale talks should also take over the United Kingdom in late February.
But the relationship has potential beyond trade, with a possible place for collaboration in technology, climate change, education, defense and green energy, because India’s ambitions align with EU priorities.
With shared economic and strategic interests, the two parties should seize the diplomatic opportunities to come, including the visit of Von der Leyen and the roadmap Negotiation, to consolidate a stronger partnership in a rapidly changing world landscape.
(Edited by Brian Maguire | Euractiv’s prenocacy lab)
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