The European Parliament believes that India should not only adhere to European values and standards in a new trade agreement with the EU, but also take into account the Green Deal, the farm-to-fork food strategy, and the Paris Climate Agreement. According to an EP report, trade with India has increased by 70 percent over the past ten years.
Negotiations between the EU and India for a new trade agreement resumed last month after being suspended ten years ago due to lack of progress. The European Commission recently stated that a trade agreement with India should be in place within two years.
Earlier, Brussels decided that new trade agreements will include ‘mirror clauses’ to ensure a ‘level playing field’ in imports and exports, not only regarding production criteria and labor conditions but also environmental standards for products. The EU will also apply climate criteria.
For this reason, the European Parliament has now adopted a resolution setting the conditions for such an agreement. This also concerns respect for the rule of law, democracy, human rights, women’s rights, and labor rights. Currently, there are various trade barriers in India for EU companies. The European Parliament believes these must also be resolved.
For example, producers of cars, car parts, and agricultural products cannot easily operate in the Indian market. The Parliament calls on the Indians to remove such obstacles, such as certificates related to beverages, steel, toys, foodstuffs, and medical relief supplies. Furthermore, India must stop discouraging imports.
The European Parliament wants to better open up India’s huge market of more than 1.3 billion inhabitants. ‘India is the most desired bride; she is getting younger and richer,’ responds Belgian MEP Geert Bourgeois (N-VA), whose report was approved almost unanimously.
The European Union is India’s third most important trading partner, after the United States and China. India ranks tenth for Europe. Valdis Dombrovskis, responsible for trade and economy in the EU Commission, calls this ‘one of the most important relationships for the coming ten years.’
The MEPs also ask the Indian government to condemn the Russian invasion of candidate EU member state Ukraine. Furthermore, they request to start cooperation to help solve the food problem caused by the Ukraine war.