The space for possibilities and cooperation is indeed wide. However, it is time to continue the list of opportunities and focus on achievable successes that will allow the partnership to be evaluated. In these cases, cooperation is more limited and more interest-oriented. The diversity of attitudes towards certain international issues has prevented the creation of in-depth strategic partnerships. The agreement with South Korea did not follow this process, the partnership was announced in 2010 without having been formally addressed. As each EU Member State conducts its own foreign policy, these established partnerships help to ensure a more integrated approach to these key issues. India`s move from a recipient to a donor country in the early 2010s meant the end of EU development aid for India – for a long time the spokesman for relations. In addition, a free trade agreement (FTA) – the most imaginative moment of partnership at the time – would prove difficult for many reasons. Some of the other initiatives of the quasi-strategic partnership of the time (maritime cooperation, an agreement on the civil nuclear split, a Europol agreement and others) remained in the pipeline for too long. Overall, the EU has failed to suspect a partnership with emerging India, beyond trade or aid.

In 2011, a now infamous policy paper by the same author called EU-India relations “an arranged marriage without love.” Seven years later, the EU-India Strategic Partnership has become one of the EU`s best-functioning strategic partnerships, long before the weakening of the EU-US strategic partnership under US President Trump. [2] The 2016-2020 Action Programme is available here: www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/122862/20160330-agenda-action-eu-india.pdf In line with the priorities of the new Commission and the leading role played by the Green Deal, and in line with the connectivity strategy for Asia adopted by the EU in 2018, the European Union and India could also promote their partnership, carbon emissions. In addition to the SPs with third countries, the European Union is seen as a strategic partnership with five groups of countries and international organisations: the young Indian generation – which represents no less than 60% of the population – is key. The EU needs to show them much more convincingly the appeal of their values. Investing in them, strengthening them and bringing them closer to EU values will be essential for the future of the partnership and the future we want for the world. While climate and energy initiatives, as well as sustainable urban cooperation, will undoubtedly strengthen eu-India relations, there is much more to be done. The EU and India must now complement the pillars of energy and urban cooperation with a third symbiotic pillar of innovation cooperation. . . .