EU eyes summit meet to finalise deal with India

The European Union (EU) is looking to an upcoming summit meeting with India in January 2026 as an opportunity to finalise a long-gestating trade deal, strengthen defence and security cooperation and firm up cooperation on a global agenda amid geopolitical churn set off by the trade policies of the US, people familiar with the matter said.

- Rezaul H. Laskar letters@

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa are expected to be chief guests at Republic Day celebrations on January 26, ahead of the India-EU Summit the following day, the people said on condition of anonymity. This is only the second time that India has invited leaders of a grouping—after the Asean in 2018—to be the chief guests at the celebrations.

While much of the focus has been on hectic negotiations to finalise an India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) by the year-end target set by the leadership of both sides, officials have also engaged in discussions to firm up understandings to broaden defence and security cooperation, including defence industry collaboration to drive the rearming of EU member states and protection of critical infrastructure, and help set the global governance agenda at a time when the US is no longer playing a leading role.

“India and the EU can set the agenda for global governance, along with France, in the absence of the US,” a senior EU official said. “India is one of the big players that we work with and can rely on.”