The 2026 EU-India Summit and the Free Trade Agreement marked an important moment in the relationship. Both sides recognised that cooperation has to extend beyond trade into defence and security, technology governance, economic security and geopolitical stability. The emphasis has moved from declarations to operational collaboration.
Turning summit commitments into sustained policy is the harder part. The EU and India are not allies, so there is no alliance machinery to carry the work forward, and the institutional landscape on both sides is complex. Follow-through needs deliberate platforms for dialogue, trust-building and policy coordination.
This project is one such platform. CSDR and FES India are bringing together an India-EU Expert Group of senior practitioner-scholars to work across three themes:
- Strategic autonomy: where EU and Indian frameworks converge and diverge, and what that means in practice.
- Security and defence: how to operationalise the partnership across defence, space, emerging technology and functional security cooperation.
- Trade: the EU-India FTA and the domestic political economy of implementing it.
Across all three, the project asks where regulatory alignment, capacity-building or joint initiatives are politically and institutionally feasible. It aims to contribute to a more coherent post-Summit narrative, one that links strategic intent to outcomes that can be implemented.
What the project will produce
- Three pillar reports, one on each theme, informed by consultations with European counterparts and Indian government stakeholders:
- Mapping the Strategic Autonomy Gap: Where EU and Indian Frameworks Converge and Diverge, with Operational Consequences
- Operationalizing the Security and Defense Partnership: Defense, Space, Emerging Technology, and Functional Security Cooperation
- The EU-India FTA and the Domestic Political Economy of Implementation
- Three parliamentary briefs, two pages each, accompanying the reports. These are written for legislative use and intended for the Indian Parliament’s Standing Committees and select European parliamentary interlocutors.
- An Indo-European expert network on strategic orientation, defence, and trade and economics.
The outputs are written for policymakers, parliamentarians and expert communities in New Delhi, Berlin and Brussels.
Project Partner
