Read the full transcript of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s speech at EU and India Forge Historic Free Trade Agreement on Feb 28, 2025.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
EU and India Forge Historic Free Trade Agreement: A New Era of Global Partnership
URSULA VON DER LEYEN: It’s a great pleasure to be back in India for such a hallmark occasion for the EU-India Partnership. Returning here for the third time as President of the European Commission is always a welcome excuse to immerse myself in your culture and democracy, your history and modernity. It was therefore with real privilege and pride that I started this visit by laying a wreath in honour of Mahatma Gandhi yesterday.
It was of course Gandhi himself who famously said that “a nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the souls of its people.” This is certainly true for India, its people and its breathtaking cultural heritage and history. And above and beyond any economic and diplomatic relations, I believe it is culture that binds the people of India and Europe together.
We have a shared love of sport, art and literature. Our students and academics work and deepen their knowledge together. And our companies do business together at a scale of almost unmatched size around the world. All of this makes us natural and long-standing partners as we start our third decade of the Strategic Partnership.
Building on a Shared History
But ladies and gentlemen, I believe what lies ahead is far greater than what has already been. Although history can always be a useful guide for how to approach the world of today, if we think back to 1947, we see how the soul of this great nation and its struggle through history basically propelled India to its independence. And looking back at the voices of the time, we also hear and feel the resolve and the determination of India to build prosperity, security and democracy for its future generations.
As I stand here today in this vibrant and independent country, the largest democracy in the world, the words spoken at the time were as prophetic as they were poignant. And at the same time in Europe, if you compare, we were trying to put back together the pieces of our continent ravaged by war. The countries of Europe chose to come together, to tie their destinies, their security and their prosperity to one another in order not to repeat the mistakes of our past. And this is how the seeds of our European Union were planted.
The point is that the world then was fragile, it was fractured, it was on the verge of change that would define the next eight decades. And both Europe and India, albeit in very different circumstances, understood the need to come together. I believe this is a clarion call for all of us as we stand here in 2025 at another inflection point.
Today’s Geopolitical Challenges
I think I don’t need to describe the geopolitical and geoeconomic headwinds that both the European Union and India are confronted with. We have all seen how countries are weaponizing their sources of strength against each other, whether natural resources or new technologies or military and economic coercion. We have seen how supply chains and dependencies are used to gain influence or drive wedges between nations and regions.
We have seen a more aggressive posture from major powers and, of course, the conflicts have destabilized entire regions. How countries, in particular the Global South, are looking for alternatives to what the international system has offered them. And we have seen clear attempts to split off parts of the world into isolated fragments.
Ladies and gentlemen, this world is fraught with danger, but I believe this modern version of great power competition is also an opportunity for Europe and India to reimagine its partnership. In many ways, the European Union and India are uniquely placed to respond to these challenges.
India is the largest democracy and soon to be in the top four of the world’s largest economies. It is the leading voice of the Global South. Europe is a unique cross-border democracy and open economy, the largest trading partner for some 80 countries around the world.
But this partnership makes sense not only because of our shared values and our close ties, or even because of our respective geographies, demographies and economies, but it is because our interests in this hyper-globalized world align more often than not. We both stand to lose from a world of spheres of influence and isolationism, and we both stand to gain from a world of cooperation and working together, because we can offer each other distinctive alternatives and tools to make ourselves stronger, more secure and more sovereign in today’s world. The kind of offer that cannot really be replicated by others.
A Partnership for the Century
And this is why the European Union and India have the potential to be one of the defining partnerships of this century. And it is why it will be a cornerstone of Europe’s foreign policy in the years and decades to come.
So I want this visit to be the start of this new era. And Prime Minister Modi and I share the same view. It is time to take our European Union-India strategic partnership to the next level for our own security, for our own prosperity, for the common global challenges that we face, and for the benefit of our respective regions and partners around the world.
Over the last 30 years, we’ve done a lot together. But in truth, we have only been scratching the surface of the potential that is there. So it is not a time to place limits on our cooperation, or to get stuck looking at agreements on every issue of regional and global concern. It is a time to be pragmatic, to be ambitious, to realign our priorities for today’s realities.
Three Pillars of Enhanced Cooperation
Allow me to very briefly map out my vision of the three areas which can take our partnership to the next level.
The first is trade and technology. The second is security and defence. And the third is connectivity and global partnerships.
Ladies and gentlemen, the first era where I believe we can make real progress is on delivering prosperity in Europe and in India. Here we have a real shared interest and sense of purpose. India’s Vixit Bharat 2047 vision will help to transform the economy and create millions of jobs, from traditional manufacturing sectors to the very high-tech industries and innovation. Europe is striving towards the same goal through our own economic and industrial transformation.
And I believe that we can help each other to reach our goals. Make in India and made in Europe can work together to drive our industries forward. And our common interest in de-risking our economies, in particular in sensitive technological areas, can help drive our economic security.
Economic Partnership and Trade
Let’s take some examples. We are both looking to diversify some of our most critical value chains. From our side, this is, for example, the case for batteries or pharmaceutical products, for semiconductors, for clean hydrogen or defence. And we can support each other to achieve this.
And for that, we need to have an ambitious trade and investment partnership. As I said today, the European Union is India’s largest trading partner, sitting ahead of both the United States and China. European companies create 8 million jobs here in India. But we could do so much more by improving market access and tackling the barriers to trade.
And I believe this can be a launchpad to strengthen cooperation in key sectors, key sectors that will drive the global economy as we head towards mid-century. Just take a few things like semiconductors or the whole topic of clean tech, the whole topic of artificial intelligence. We just had the summit 10 days ago in Paris and the next one will be here. High-performance computing, the whole topic of digital public infrastructure.
By investing together in this tech and by building strong supply chains, we can create a real advantage for ourselves in today’s competitive global economy. And we should draw on each other’s skills and talents, such as academics and researchers, to make all that happen.
A free trade agreement between the European Union and India would be the largest deal of its kind anywhere in the world. I am very well aware it will not be easy. But I also know that timing and determination counts and that this partnership comes at the right moment for the two of us. This is why we have agreed with Prime Minister Modi to push to get it done during this year and you can count on my full commitment to make sure we can deliver.
Security and Stability
Ladies and gentlemen, the second broad area for renewed cooperation is security and stability. And here again, we have many shared interests. Wars, conflicts and coups have erupted in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, in Africa and across different regions. And what happens in one part of the world matters to both Europe and India, even if we sit far apart on the map. Because peace, security and prosperity are indivisible in this world.
In Europe, Russia’s goal is to tear Ukraine apart.
And we should be clear about what is at stake here. A failed Ukraine would not only weaken Europe, and that is why we have taken historic steps to support Ukraine and its future. But a failed Ukraine would also intensify the challenges in other parts of the world, not least in this region. Other countries around the world are watching very closely whether there is any impunity if you invade a neighbour or violate international borders, or whether there are real deterrents.
And this is why we want any peace talks to lead to a just and lasting peace, with a free and prosperous Ukraine that can join the European family. And Europe is ready to live up to its responsibility when it comes to security and defence. We will step up our defence spending to ensure that Member States have access to the full spectrum of capability that this new reality demands.
New EU-India Security Partnership
But we also want to step up cooperation with crucial partners like India. And this is why I can announce that we are exploring a future security and defence partnership with India. In the mould of the partnership we have with Japan and South Korea, this will help us step up our work to counter common threats, whether on cross-border terrorism, maritime security threats, the whole topic of cyber attacks, or the new phenomenon we see on attacks on our critical infrastructure.
So there is a lot that we can build on. For instance, the recent collaboration on maritime security. And I am delighted that India’s interest in joining defence industrial projects under the European Union’s Permanent Structured Cooperation is obvious. India is working hard to diversify its military supply and to access new capabilities. And I believe we can help each other to deliver on our security objectives.
For instance, we can join forces where we have technology and expertise, if you just take the topics of cyber security, but also space, the whole topic of drones. And this is not only about stability in our respective regions, but it is also a key part in strengthening our economic security and ultimately our prosperity. And this is why security should be at the core part, a core part of our new strategic partnership with India.
Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final element I will touch on is the need to deepen our connectivity links and our global partnership. And here, there is a lot that Europe can learn from India. India has been the leading voice bringing to the fore the concerns of many countries in the Global South. Addressing these issues becomes all the more important in a world where major powers are pulling at the seams of the international system.
And I believe India and Europe have a real opportunity to step up, to invest in each other and to invest in our global partnerships. This is in our core economic and national security interest. India can play a unique role as a bridge between the Global South and the rest of the world, between the Indo-Pacific and Europe. And Europe is ready to invest to help to bring that to life.
Through Global Gateway, that is our 300 billion euro infrastructure offer for infrastructure abroad, through Global Gateway, we can invest in projects that transport energy across India and between India and the world. And this is just the start of what can be done to build this connectivity between India, Europe and the regions between us.
The India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC)
The IMEC, the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor, that we launched here in New Delhi in 2023 during India’s G20 Presidency, in my view, is a historic opportunity to bring this to life. It’s amazing as a project. It can be a modern golden road directly connecting India, the Arabian Gulf and Europe. It’s fascinating it has a rail link that will make trade between India and Europe 40% faster. Just imagine.
It has an electricity cable and a clean hydrogen pipeline, so energy from India to Europe and vice versa. It has a high-speed data cable to link some of the most innovative digital ecosystems in the world. So this corridor is much, much more than just a railway or a cable. It is a green and digital bridge across continents and civilizations.
And it can help bring us closer together. It can help boost trade on everything you can think of, from batteries to the topic of clean hydrogen and the whole range of digital services. So this can be a real win-win-win for Europe, for India and for our partners. We are ready to invest in concrete projects that can already start making these connections happen. Europe is open for business and we are ready to invest in our common future with India.
Conclusion: A Historic Partnership
Ladies and gentlemen, investing in our common future. This is the driving force of this new era of partnership between Europe and India. So in troubled times come great opportunities and I believe 2025 is a historic window of opportunity to build an indivisible partnership between India and the European Union. Our interests align. Our commitment is ironclad. And if it can be done anywhere, it can be done here.
Because as Romain Rolland, the French writer and great admirer of India said, let me cite it, “If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home, from the very earliest days when men began the dream of existence, it is India.” End of quote.
And today we are one step closer to making our common dream a reality. So thank you very much for your attention and long live our friendship. Thank you.
