Prime Minister Narendra Modi deserves full credit for reversing this prolonged political neglect and intensifying engagement with Europe.
The recent back-to-back visits of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Spanish President Pedro Sanchez underscore Europe’s rising salience in India’s foreign policy. Scholz made his third visit to India in two years while Sanchez is the first Spanish leader to visit India in two decades. The visits reflect Europe’s growing enthusiasm for comprehensive cooperation with India. Europe has long offered valuable opportunities across trade, investment, science, technology, education, defence and security; however, these natural synergies rarely translated into substantial outcomes. During the Cold War, India’s political alignment with the Soviet Union and its economic inward turn limited productive engagement with Europe. The end of the Cold War and India’s economic reforms did create positive conditions for engagement with Europe. Yet, Europe’s Asia focus remained centred on China and its rapidly growing market, while its regional integration efforts limited its external outreach. Meanwhile, Delhi was slow to allocate sustained political and bureaucratic attention to transforming its relationship with Europe. That China has more intense commercial ties with Europe than India highlights the missed opportunities in Delhi’s past foreign and economic policies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi deserves full credit for reversing this prolonged political neglect and intensifying engagement with Europe. The increased frequency of leader-level exchanges is now delivering results. Over the past decade, India has restarted its free trade dialogue with the EU, resolved the marines’ case with Italy, finalised a trade and economic partnership with EFTA, revived its strategic partnership with France, and strengthened ties with the United Kingdom. Equally important is India’s growing engagement with smaller European states and regional sub-groups — the Nordics, Baltics, Central Europeans, to name a few. While India once looked towards connectivity with Europe via Iran and Russia — both under severe international sanctions — it is now pivoting to the Arabian Gulf for new transport corridors to Europe. This has generated great political and commercial interest in America and Europe.
This broad and intensive engagement is gradually bridging longstanding political differences over Russia and reactivating dormant synergies. Although Europe initially objected to India’s stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it now sees India as a potential peacemaker. As Delhi diversifies away from Moscow, Europe becomes integral to its vision for a multipolar world. As Europe seeks to bolster its defence industry amid Russian threats, India emerges as a key partner. Spain’s collaboration with the Tatas to establish a final assembly line for military transport aircraft in Gujarat highlights fresh possibilities in the aerospace sector. Likewise, Berlin, previously hesitant to supply arms to India, is relaxing its arms export norms, positioning itself as a prospective defence supplier. As Europe reduces its economic dependency on China, the Indian market becomes increasingly attractive to European investors. Facing potential American isolationism, India and Europe recognise the need for enhanced regional security collaboration in their shared neighbourhood. Meanwhile, Indian tourism in Europe is surging, and more Indian students are enrolling in European universities. Under demographic pressures, Europe is welcoming Indian engineering professionals. To capitalise on these new opportunities, India’s economic ministries need to create a more welcoming environment for European investment and the security establishment in Delhi should stop viewing Europe through Russian eyes.
