The European union and India: A reluctant partnership between aspiring global powers

Formalized in 2004, the Strategic Partnership (SP) between the European Union (EU) and India intends to deepen cooperation between New Delhi and Brussels. Yet, such harmonization and strengthening of relations are yet to transpire. The chapter undertakes a detailed process-tracing of the EU-India relationship. The emphasis is on developments during 1999 which led both Brussels and New Delhi to draw contrasting conclusions both about global life and each other. Subsequently, this discrepancy of strategic visions has come to plague the international interactions between India and the EU. The chapter demonstrates that the bilateral relationship can be read as a story of two international actors aspiring to global prominence, who—to their mutual frustration—find themselves consigned and constrained to play a leading role only in their respective neighbourhoods. The EU-India SP seems only to reinforce this marginalization in global affairs, as neither of the strategic partners considers the other significant enough to develop meaningful relations. Therefore, it seems that the EU-India SP will continue to gather dust on the foreign policy shelves in both Brussels and New Delhi as one that is neither strategic, nor much of a partnership either.