India can lead the way to a multipolar world

This year can be the start of a new, dynamic relationship between India and the 25-nation European Union (EU)?if the political will is there. And, as in the 1960s and 1970s, New Delhi will have to take the lead. It will have to start by admitting that the EU is not only India?s main trading partner and a major investor, but that it also has the potential to be an important political ally in the creation of a multipolar world that is in the interest of both Indians and Europeans.

Creating a multipolar world is not easy, however, when the world stage is dominated by a single superpower. It is easier, and perhaps even more profitable in the short run, to ally oneself with the superpower. Most, perhaps all, of the EU?s members think so; certainly Germany is busy mending its fences with the US. And so are the French. Seen from here, India too seems to have thrown in its lot with the US, lock, stock and barrel.

A major difficulty facing New Delhi in its relations with the EU is that Brussels is not Washington. The problem that Henry Kissinger raised when he was US Secretary of State, is still there.

Whom can India?s minister of external affairs call up when he has a problem that he wants to discuss with the EU? The President of the EU?s executive arm, the European Commission, his colleague, the commissioner for external relations? The foreign minister of Austria, which is the country that holds the EU?s rotating presidency until June 30 or the EU?s high representative for foreign and security policy, who is based in Brussels? (Mind you, it is not enough to have George Bush?s ear. The President proposes, Congress disposes.)

The situation is very different, at first sight, as regards trade relations. The EU leads in matters of trade, through Peter Mandelson, the European Commissioner for Trade. Kamal Nath, as commerce minister, can call Mr Mandelson to discuss trade policy. But even the EU?s chief trade negotiator has had his hands firmly tied by France, in particular, on all agricultural issues. He has been forced to declare publicly: ?There is no place in this multilateral negotiation for further unilateral concessions (on agriculture) from Europe.?

There would have been a single telephone number in Brussels for India?s external affairs minister to call had the French and Dutch voters not scuppered the EU Constitution last year.

The fact is that the Constitution included a chapter on EU foreign policy, which provided for the appointment of an EU foreign minister. Despite efforts by Austria to revive the Constitution, if only in order to make it easier to run the EU, the Constitution is unlikely to be ratified by national parliaments.

With the EU in disarray, if not in crisis, on both the political and economic fronts, New Delhi has very little to gain from striving for closer political relations with it. However, as in the 1960s, India has no choice. Then it was a question of safeguarding the country?s access to the UK market, following Britain?s first attempt to join the then six-nation European Economic Community. Today, it is a question of ensuring India?s political interests, at the international level (in the UN, for example), against a superpower determined to have its own way in the defence of its national interests.

What is more, the EU has two advantages over the US as a partner on the global stage. The first is that individual EU countries have first-hand knowledge of developing countries. Those with a colonial past are making determined efforts to reach out to developing countries in general, and to their former colonies in particular, on a basis of cooperation, even partnership.

The EU?s second advantage is that its very make-up requires its member countries to look for compromises, even when key national interests are at stake. New Delhi has a specific target for the exercise of political will in its relations with the EU. Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Tony Blair endorsed the Joint Action Plan for an India-EU strategic partnership when they met in New Delhi last September. The two sides have begun to implement the Plan; indeed, they hope to present the next India-EU summit, which will take place in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, in the autumn, with a detailed report on the progress they have made.

Finally, both India and the EU committed themselves to a closer political relationship when Dr Singh and Mr Blair adopted a political declaration on the India-EU strategic partnership.

They recognized that India and the EU, as ?the largest democracies in the world, share common values and beliefs that make them natural partners in the modern, inter-connected world.?

They pointed to their ?belief in the fundamental importance of multilateralism and in the essential role of the UN in maintaining international peace and security.? It is easier for India, than for the amorphous, 25-nation EU, to assume political leadership in making a reality of their strategic partnership.