- Negotiations
The European Union and India launched negotiations on a bilateral free trade and investment agreement in June 2007. However, between the governments, a number of controversies have been plaguing the talks. Delhi wants Brussels to relax its stringent food safety criteria which penalise Indian farm and fishery exports and to make it easier for Indian professionals to work in the EU. Europe is primarily out to win major openings of India’s services sector and broad liberalisation of foreign investment, while India does not want to discuss allowing European firms to compete in India’s government procurement market.
Indian social movements, including fisherfolk and labour unions, people living with HIV/AIDS and other health activists have been mobilizing against the FTA. International actions and campaigns have particularly targeted the proposed intellectual property provisions of the agreement, and the impact of the FTA on access to medicines.
last update: May 2012
Photo: MSF
23-Apr-2014
Negotiations between India and the European Union for the free trade agreement (FTA) are expected to start after the new government assumes office, French Ambassador Francois Richier said today.
21-Apr-2014
Business Standard
The new Indian government should expedite negotiations on the Indo-European Union free trade agreement, says German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner.
17-Mar-2014
Hindu Business Line
The free trade agreement with India is in need of a thorough and objective impact assessment by civil society, Henri Malosse, President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has said.
17-Jan-2014
Hindu Business Line
India and the European Union will have a free trade agreement most likely in the first half of 2015, EU Ambassador to India Joao Cravinho, said on Friday.
9-Dec-2013
PTI
India and the European Union are unlikely to ink a free trade pact in the next three to four years, a Belgium-based independent think tank, the European Centre for International Political Economy, has said. Echoing similar views, an MEP said, "It all depends on whether the Indian Parliament gets to pass the Insurance Bill in the Winter Session."
26-Nov-2013
Business Standard
Belgium has demanded greater access to public procurement market for large-scale contracts under the proposed India-EU free trade agreement (FTA), whose fate already hangs in balance. The country also stressed on further tariff reduction on goods by India.
22-Nov-2013
Hindu Business Line
The European Union has blamed India for the delay in conclusion of the free trade agreement being negotiated by the two for the last six years.
18-Oct-2013
Economic Times
The European Union should allow easier entry and movement of Indian professionals in order to generate support for the free trade pact between the two that’s been under negotiation for the last six years, Indian think tank Icrier said in a study commissioned by the 27-country grouping.
14-Oct-2013
PTI
India-EU free trade agreement is expected to be a major issue that will come up in the meeting between a high-level delegation of European Parliament’s panel on international trade and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma.
3-Sep-2013
PTI
India has a "very good agreement on table" for the European Union on bilateral free trade pact but data security status is all important for the country, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said today.
