European Parliament will ‘carefully scrutinise’ India-EU FTA, says chair of key panel

E-PaperSubscribeSubscribeEnjoy unlimited accessSubscribe Now! Get features like The European Parliament will scrutinise the India-European Union (EU) free trade agreement as part of the process of approving the pact to ensure it is fair and balanced, though no major obstacles are expected as agriculture has largely been kept out of the deal, the chair of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with India said on Tuesday. Angelika Niebler, the chair of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with India, with BJP MP Anurag Thakur. (X)Angelika Niebler, currently in New Delhi with an 11-member delegation for consultations with Indian parliamentarians, government officials and civil society, described India as a “trustworthy partner” at a time when Europe is looking to forge new partnerships to address challenges arising from global geopolitical tensions. The delegation met external affairs minister S Jaishankar and commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Monday. With India and the EU looking to sign the FTA, negotiations for which were concluded in January, by the third quarter of 2026 so that it can enter into force next year, Niebler emphasised the European Parliament’s role in approving the deal. “I’m very positive because I think it’s a good agreement. But it’s our duty to carefully scrutinise the agreement, and the devil always is in the details. We have to have a close look at it,” she said in an interview with HT. Niebler said the 11 members of the delegation visiting India, who represent diverse groups in the European Parliament, are all “very positive” about the FTA with India. However, she pointed to big protests that erupted in Europe after the EU and the South American bloc Mercosur concluded an FTA in January, largely because of concerns related to agriculture. “I do not expect such obstacles as regards the EU-India FTA because agriculture has been taken out from the agreement to a large part, but you never know. We have high environmental standards, we have regulations like CBAM [Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism]...So colleagues will have a close look as to whether it’s a balanced approach which has been taken in the FTA but again, I think, let’s be positive,” Niebler said. Niebler referred to “an EU-India moment” amid geopolitical churn and said the 27-member bloc has a chance to “get close to a trustworthy new partner” such as India, with the FTA providing momentum to bolster bilateral cooperation. “Due to geopolitical tensions all over the world, I think trustworthy partnerships play a vital role now, and India is one of our trustworthy partners,” she said. “This moment was triggered by recent developments and the policy of the US administration – that showed us we have to look for other partners and it was a wake-up call for us in the EU to get more resilient in a lot of sectors [and] India is doing the same,” she said. Niebler reiterated Europe’s concerns about the Russia-Ukraine conflict and acknowledged the issue figured in her delegation’s meetings in New Delhi. “Ukraine for us is a security issue, that’s what we always stress and I think the Indian government has taken note of that,” she said. She was critical of the US’s month-long sanctions waiver to allow India to buy Russian oil, describing it as a “wrong decision”. She said, “It’s not helping to de-escalate. It’s not helping to come to a ceasefire or even to start negotiating on a peace [deal]... It’s only postponing the problem… You are only filling the coffers of the Russians. So this is not helpful.” Niebler emphasised the role India can play in facilitating de-escalation in the West Asia conflict, given New Delhi’s ties with all key players in the region. “India is following a multi-alignment foreign policy, which helps a lot right now. They have close links to Iran, Israel [and] the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries… Ten million Indian citizens are living in the GCC countries. There’s huge interest in everything [being] done to de-escalate the conflict and that’s very much in line with our policies in the EU,” she said. Rezaul H Laskar is the Foreign Affairs Editor at Hindustan Times. His interests include movies and music.