The EU has announced details of a new "strategic agenda" with India, signaling the bloc's intention to expand its global ties and look beyond the United States.
The agreement includes proposals on security and technology while also reiterating the EU’s aim to conclude a free-trade agreement with India this year, News.Az reports citing Bloomberg.
The two sides are “exploring the creation of an EU-India Security and Defence Partnership,” the commission also announced.
There are flies in the ointment, however. Both EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas struck a downbeat note at a press conference announcing the agreement today in Brussels.
Sefcovic said he had expected more progress when he met with his Indian counterparts last week in New Delhi. Kallas said that India’s purchase of Russian oil remains an issue.
“The problems we have in our relationship are very clear, we are trying to address them in our negotiations,” Kallas said, adding that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” when it comes to a trade deal. Sefcovic pointed out that the proposed trade deal will have to get a nod from the European Parliament and Council.
The timing of the announcement is interesting. US President Donald Trump has been pressuring Europe to impose tariffs on India and China over their imports of Russian oil. To date, that idea hasn’t gained traction among Europeans.
As Bloomberg has previously reported, the EU is considering some sanctions on companies in India and China that are enabling Russia’s oil trade as part of its 19th sanctions package.
As discussions intensify on that package, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen spoke to Trump last night, and pledged that the EU would accelerate its phase-out of Russian fossil fuel.
The issue impacts Hungary and Slovakia in particular. But as Bloomberg’s Daniel Hornak reports, Slovakia’s economy minister signaled this morning that it would resist pressure from Trump to cut Russian oil and gas imports until the country has sufficient alternative supplies.
