EU Envoy Says India-EU Trade Talks ‘A Missed Opportunity’, Urges New Delhi to Act

New Delhi: The latest round of negotiations between India and the European Union was a “missed opportunity” in finding a common path to a breakthrough to wrap up the free trade agreement (FTA) by the end of this year, EU ambassador India Herve Delphin said on Monday (September 29).

Speaking at an event to launch an edition of ‘India’s World’ magazine, Delphin said the strategic case for the deal was already clear and that concrete deliverables should now be the focus.

He recalled that both sides had committed to conclude the talks this year, but added that the most recent round had failed to meet expectations.

“The 13th round earlier in September was a bit of a missed opportunity to make some breakthrough,” he said.

While noting that the EU “was and is still ready to conclude on a meaningful package”, Delphin implied that the ball was in India’s court. “We look forward to India engaging in earnest and moving, like the EU has shown readiness to do, towards a mutually beneficial deal”.

The European Commission’s chief negotiator Christophe Kiener has admitted that the EU’s push for strong environmental commitments is holding up progress in free trade talks with India.

According to Euronews, which reported on his appearance before the European parliament’s trade committee on September 25, Kiener told lawmakers: “We will need to adjust the approach we usually take on trade and sustainable development to make sure this is something India can live with.”

He added: “Not having a chapter on trade and sustainability is not an option, but we must also make sure that this chapter cannot be an empty shell.”

Kiener said India strongly resists the kind of binding enforcement mechanisms sought by the EU. “The notion that there would be a dispute settlement, let alone sanctions applying to those commitments … these are elements that are very difficult for India," he told the committee.

An internal European Commission report on the 13th round of negotiations, held in New Delhi from September 8 to 12, also recorded the lack of breakthroughs.

It said that “no additional chapter could be closed this time”, with automotives and agriculture still unresolved. Rules of origin were agreed upon for 11 categories of goods, but agriculture, chemicals, machinery, steel and cars remain open.

The report noted differences over India’s quality control orders, while in services it said “a few remaining issues … are critical for the EU”. It added that chapters on investment, dispute settlement and trade remedies also remain unfinished.

Ahead of that round, India’s commerce ministry circulated a background note to members of a parliamentary standing committee, which stressed that on India-EU FTA talks India seeks duty-free access for its exports and the easier movement for skilled professionals, but identified “stringent standards regimes, protectionist regulatory measures, recognition of Indian professional qualifications and non-tariff barriers that restrict agricultural and industrial exports” as sticking points.

It also raised concerns over the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, deforestation rules, foreign subsidies regime and due diligence requirements, warning these “are expected to raise compliance obligations for Indian exporters, adding to regulatory costs and potentially limiting market access”.

According to Indian government records, the total trade between India and the EU in 2023 in both goods and services was $198 billion, making Brussels one of New Delhi’s top trading partners.

In his speech, Delphin said the urgency of an FTA lay in its strategic weight at a time of global disorder.

“The great geopolitical reshuffling that we have been witnessing in the last decade is still in labour,” he said, pointing to a US-China rivalry “increasingly locked in a systems-level competition, reverberating across the global chessboard”.

He warned that nationalist politics and a technological race for supremacy were fuelling a retreat of international law and multilateralism.

The envoy argued that Europe and India offered each other important options “to de-risk the economic turmoil and the security uncertainties; to tap into our complementarities and combine respective strengths and scale to serve each other’s interests.” He recalled that the EU’s decision to relaunch FTA talks and propose a Trade and Technology Council in 2022 flowed from this reassessment.

Delphin acknowledged that for many in India, the EU remained “a strange animal”, with policymakers often asking why it is easier to deal with individual member states.

He said the bloc had been forced by Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine, “a more challenging and unpredictable transatlantic partner”, and worsening relations with China to forge its own strategic concept of sovereignty and autonomy, with member states increasingly articulating their strategies through the EU framework.

On Russia, the EU envoy said Moscow’s war in Ukraine and its hostile actions had become an unavoidable issue in Europe’s dealings with India. He pointed to drone violations of European airspace, India’s participation in the Russia-Belarus ‘Zapad-2025’ exercise, sanctions and oil trade.

“There is a Russia question,” he said. “India has pronounced itself for peace. Russia is a strategic partner for India. And India wants to deepen its ties with the EU. This will require further consideration in Delhi on how to square those terms.”

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas struck a similar note when she launched a new EU-India strategic agenda on September 17. She warned that India’s “participation in Russia’s military exercises and its purchase of Russian oil stand in the way of closer ties”, while stressing the EU did not want to push New Delhi closer to Moscow.

Europe has also been under pressure from US President Donald Trump to join in on putting sanctions on India for buying Russian oil. So far, the EU has demurred, stating that it does not have an issue with India buying Russian crude as long as New Delhi doesn’t export refined products from Russian oil to Europe.

India had earlier pointed out that NATO countries like the US, Turkey and Hungary also participated in the Zapad exercise as observers.

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