New Delhi [India], December 3 : A 40-member European Union negotiating team will arrive in New Delhi on Thursday, marking the most intensive phase of the India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) discussions, aimed initially at concluding it by the end of this year.
India-EU FTA talks were relaunched in 2022.
EU Ambassador to India Herve Delphin, speaking at India's World Annual Conclave 2025 today, said the current negotiations represent a fundamentally new phase, calling them "EU-India FTA negotiation 2.0".
"I mean, first, I would say it's not the same FTA negotiation as a decade ago. It's not a continuum. So please don't read this FTA negotiation through the lens of the past," Delphin said.
He said there is now "a growing sense of shared necessity and complementarity articulated by the EU and Indian leaders during the visit of European Commission earlier this year."
Delphin added that global trade tensions have increased the urgency of a predictable, rules-based framework.
"Of course, there is a sharpest sense of saliency because of the tariff wars that is going on, the tariff offensive that we see. So I think it's, this is an FTA when there is more than trade," the envoy said, addressing a panel discussion.
Pointing to the combined economic weight of both partners, he said, "If you think that EU and India combined is 25 per cent of the world GDP, 25 per cent of world demography, that's not nothing. So if you create an FTA between these two entities, that has a bearing. That has a bearing."
He noted the agreement would help both sides "de-risking this very fraught environment of the world economy," and emphasised that the EU's FTA record shows consistent gains for all parties.
"It is a long-term benefit because the history of European FTAs with any partner, and you can check that with any partner, is a win-win. It's been mutually beneficial. Trade has grown. Jobs have grown. Investments have grown. So we are not in the zero-sum game. So call it the European art of the deal or whatever," Delphin said.
Delphin said there is "a strong political commitment (to) conclude the FTA negotiations by the end of the year."
He noted that both sides have agreed to drop the traditional approach of formal negotiation rounds.
"Now we are in a continuous negotiating mode," he said. "As of tomorrow, you will have a 40 or so strong team of European negotiators coming to Delhi," he said.
During the visit, members of the European negotiating team will meet Commerce Secretary Agrawal, and later during the weekend, Maros Sefcovic, Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, will meet Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, the EU envoy to India said.
So far, progress has been substantial.
"The arithmetic is, if you want to have the facts, is 11 chapters closed so far out of 23. Many more are almost at closing stage."
However, Delphin acknowledged "there are still remaining gaps and important ones, issues to be breached, market access for cars, and some aspects of services and investment, technical barriers to trade, as well as issues related to CBAM," he noted.
"These, of course, necessitate further discussions, including at the political level," he said.
Given the political will and industry pressure, he said he is optimistic about the FTA.
"I'm quite confident with both the leaders on both sides and the business pushing really hard, that the negotiators will have no other way to cut a deal. And they will make the necessary adjustment and it will be a great deal," the envoy said.
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