India-EU ink civil nuclear pact on eve of bilateral summit

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 14

India and the European Union on Tuesday signed a civil nuclear agreement to set the stage for the India-EU virtual summit on Wednesday.

EU and India are also working on an agreement between Europol and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to combat organised crime and terrorism.

The summit, to be co-chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, will unveil a joint road map for cooperation in over 25 areas over the next five years.

As Covid cases have risen in India which is also a crucial link in the global pharmaceutical supply chain, both issues will be discussed at the summit, EU officials said at a background briefing.

Revealing that India had submitted an ambitious project to enhance India-EU connectivity, they said the other key areas are artificial intelligence, the digital field, security, climate, environment and trade and investment. The two sides will also resume their dialogue on human rights, which could stave off criticism of India’s actions in Kashmir.

The India-EU virtual summit will be Brussels fourth such endeavour having held similar interactions recently with Japan, China and South Korea.

India has signed 15 civil nuclear agreements that vary in letter and spirit but the very fact of their inking after more than a decade of negotiations is seen as a diplomatic initiative indicating a great degree of trust among the signatories. The India-EU nuclear pact will be research oriented in areas such as medicine, water and environment. 

Despite outlining commonalities in Indian and EU values, including democracy and rule of law, EU officials were scathing in their criticism of Indian approach towards trade and investment. The EU officials were even handed in their stance on the India-China clashes in the line of actual control (LAC) and advocated dialogue to arrive at a peaceful settlement.

Officials said they were not even close to a free trade agreement with India because of its protectionist stance on tariffs and the opening of service sectors. In fact the wide divergence in their positions and the plethora of non-tariff barriers imposed by India had discouraged the EU from considering an early harvest of low hanging fruits in the trade arena.

“The EU wants to see a far reaching agreement that should be win-win for both sides. We should focus not only narrowly on low hanging fruits but to bring the relationship to a new level,” said another EU official.

The EU has proposed an investment protection agreement as the first step but has not received any response so far from New Delhi. Instead, the EU is proposing a high level trade dialogue mechanism to explore the prospects of a trade pact at the political level.

The EU was unimpressed by India’s model bilateral investment treaty because its remedy for disputes is local courts “is not something we are looking favourably at,” said officials who added India’s scrapping of previous investment treaties was “not the right signal” for its companies.

On the China-India clash, officials said they were encouraged by the desire of both sides to settle their differences peacefully, through dialogue.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.