Pact Europa

The recently concluded fifth India-European Summit at The Hague is a reminder of both the possibilities and pitfalls of an India-EU strategic partnership. There is no doubt that there is an overwhelming need for such a partnership. The expanded EU, with a population of 450 million 8212; and with close to a third of the world8217;s GDP 8212; will remain one of India8217;s most significant trading partners. Both the EU and India have an incentive to cooperate further in the war against terrorism. And it is high time that both engaged in a dialogue on the structure of the world order, including nuclear India8217;s place in it. The agreement on energy and technological cooperation will benefit both parties. But the fact that it has taken this long even to come to a meaningful stage in the dialogue on nuclear issues suggests that the wheels of European foreign policy grind very slowly.

The fact is that it is difficult to have a strategic partnership when there is no clear consensus within the EU on what its own strategic objectives are. Is the EU willing to take a more proactive role in world politics? Or will it take comfort in the fact that in most international crises 8212; be it its own backyard in Yugoslavia or in distant Iraq 8212; the EU can at the moment offer little more than words? Strategic partnerships are easier to forge with entities that have a clearer conception of their own interests and Europe is still struggling to identify what those are. The fact that this summit took place without the new European Commission Chief Jose Manuel Barrosso8217;s team in place comes as a reminder that the EU still does not have the integrated structures to swiftly formulate policy.

But the significance of greater EU-India partnership may not lie in the specific steps that emerge as a result of this dialogue. It will rather lie in a deepening engagement outside the limited confines of strategic objectives. The EU is an astonishing experiment in human affairs: 25 nations pooling their sovereignties to create an integrated market, a common human rights regime and a cultural movement to overcome the burdens of their own history. The lessons of this experiment have profound implications for regions like South Asia. At the same time, as the EU struggles with complex questions like language rights, immigration and religious tolerance, it might look to India to draw a lesson or two in the practice of democracy and pluralism.