Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on India-EU relations
Date: 2005-05-12
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: European Union, India, conference proceedings, cooperation policy

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Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on India-EU relations

(2005/C 267/06)

At its plenary session of 27 January 2004, the European Economic and Social Committee decided, under
Rule 29(2) of its Rules of Procedure, to draw up an opinion on India-EU relations.

The Section for External Relations, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the
subject, adopted its opinion on 14 March 2005. The rapporteur was Mr Sukhdev Sharma.

At its 417th plenary session (meeting of 12 May 2005), the European Economic and Social Committee
adopted the following opinion (unanimously) by 145 votes in favour and two abstentions.

1. Introduction

The first

1.1
Information Report on ‘India-EU Relations’
(CES 947/2000) was adopted by the Section for External Rela-
tions in December 2000, in the run-up to the first meeting of
the India-EU Round Table, held in New Delhi in January 2001.
The European members of the Round Table are drawn from
the EESC, while its Indian members come from a cross-section
of organised civil society (see Appendix I).

pean Parliament and the EESC in June 2004, in response to the
fact that India-EU relations have ‘developed exponentially in
scope and intensity in recent years.’ The Commission called for
an Action Plan, to be endorsed at the sixth India-EU summit in
2005.

1.6
The Indian government responded favourably in August
to the Commission's Communication of June 16, and proposed
the creation of a Ministerial level committee to draft the Action
Plan, for approval by the sixth summit.

1.2
Since its inauguration in 2001, the Round Table has
established itself as an important institution for the further
development of EU-India relations. It held its seventh meeting
in June 2004 in Srinagar, Kashmir, and its eighth in December
2004 in London, when such sensitive issues as child labour and
gender equality at the workplace were discussed in a frank yet
constructive manner. (See Section 5: The EU-India civil society
dialogue so far.)

1.7
The EU Council, in its Conclusions, adopted in October,
‘welcomed the thorough and comprehensive’ Commission
Communication. The Council fully supported its overall objec-
tives, and undertook to ‘work with the Commission towards
their implementation.’

1.3
This own-initiative opinion on India-EU relations has
been prepared in view of the growing importance of these rela-
tions since 2000. This importance is clearly reflected in a
number of developments in 2004.

1.8
The European Parliament recommended to the Council
in October that it ‘take the decision to up-grade the India-EU
relationship to a Strategic Partnership,’ and that it also take the
‘necessary practical steps’ to this end.

limit
This own-initiative opinion therefore does not
1.4
itself to updating the 2000 Information Report on India-EU
Relations. It also stresses the need for the EESC to take full
advantage of the strong political support, in both the EU insti-
tutions and the Indian government,
for closer cooperation
between European and Indian civil societies. To this end this
own-initiative opinion notes the contribution that the EESC has
already made to bringing together Indian and European civil
societies in a meaningful dialogue. It sets out the further contri-
bution which the EESC can make, particularly to the prepara-
tion of the Joint Action Plan for an EU-India Strategic Partner-
ship, notably through the Round Table.

1.5
The European Commission sent its wide-ranging propo-
sals for a strategic partnership with India to the Council, Euro-

The fifth India-EU summit, held in the Hague in
1.9
November, called on the two sides ‘to jointly elaborate a
comprehensive India-EU Action Plan for a Strategic Partnership
and a new Joint Political Declaration, based on the Commis-
sion's Communication, the Council's Conclusions and India's
response paper, for approval at the sixth summit meeting.’

At its December meeting in London, the Round Table,
1.10
in its recommendations to the India-EU summit
in 2005,
‘recognised that the India-EU Strategic Partnership provided
opportunities to enhance and widen the role of civil society in
this partnership, through the forum of the Round Table.’ It
emphasised ‘that civil society must be an integral part of this
new partnership,’ and expressed itself ‘keen to actively contri-
bute to the Joint Action Plan.’

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1.11
The length of the European Commission's paper, and
the Indian Government's response, might suggest that much
remains to be done to strengthen and deepen India-EU rela-
tions. The fact is that they already enjoy a close relationship,
within a ‘partnership based on the sound foundation of shared
values and beliefs,’ according to the summit statement. Indeed,
the three documents mentioned above make clear how much
has been achieved to date.

logical cooperation agreement provides a legal framework for
Indian and European scientists to take part in each other's
programmes, while India is a ‘target country’ for collaboration
under the international framework of the EU's sixth Framework
Research Programme.

The India-EU partnership has evolved over the years
1.12
from economic and development cooperation to acquire higher
political and strategic dimensions, given that both India and the
EU are important actors on the global stage, with a shared view
of a world order based on multilateralism. Their political
dialogue now includes a regular summit, which in recent years
have taken place annually, annual ‘troika’ ministerial meetings,
and following the adoption of the India-EU Joint Declaration
on Terrorism in 2001, twice yearly meetings of COTER Troika,
a political working group on anti-terrorism. The institutional
machinery also includes the Consular Affairs working group,
twice yearly meetings of senior EU and Indian officials since
2000, as well as the biannual meetings of the India-EU Round
Table.

Trade and investment remain a cornerstone of

the
1.13
India-EU relationship. The EU is India's largest trading partner
and the main source of foreign inward investment. Although
both trade and investment are clearly below potential, Indian
and European economic operators made recommendations for
action in eight sectors under a joint initiative for enhancing
trade and investment. A EUR 13.4 million trade and investment
development programme will build on these recommendations.
Meanwhile, the EU and India have concluded a customs coop-
eration agreement, designed to improve trade flows, and are
negotiating a maritime agreement, to encourage the develop-
ment of the activities of Indian and European shipping compa-
nies.

1.14
India's Information Technology (IT) exports to the EU
rose to over EUR 2 billion in 2003, and represented 20 % of
the country's total software exports. Some 900 Indian and
European companies and organisations took part in the 2004
Euro-India cooperation forum on the Information Society, held
in New Delhi
in March 2004. Meanwhile, an Information
Society dialogue was launched on the basis of the 2001 Joint
India-EU Vision Statement on the development of the informa-
tion society and information and communication technology. It
provides for research in six priority sectors and an in-depth
dialogue on regulatory frameworks for the Information Society
and electronic communications.

1.16
India and the EU are working on a draft cooperation
agreement on the EU's Galileo satellite navigation project.
Given India's capabilities in satellite and navigation related
activities, the agreement will encourage industrial cooperation
in many high-tech areas. India and the EU already have a long
history of working together through their respective space
agencies, ESA and ISRO, in the peaceful exploration and use of
outer space. The EU meanwhile has expressed an interest in
India's unmanned lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan-1.

1.17
There are new approaches to development coopera-
tion. India is becoming an atypical actor, with an evolving
development policy, in which it is both recipient and donor.
This shift was evident during the devastation that followed the
‘tsunami’ which struck countries bordering the Indian ocean on
26 December 2004. India refused foreign emergency aid, even
while providing large-scale emergency assistance to Sri Lanka.
As recipient, India now accepts development aid from a select
group of bilateral donors now expanded to include the EU, the
G-8 countries and small bilateral donors who are not part of
G-8, but which are accepted if contributions exceed $ 25
million per year. The EU is providing EUR 225 million in
grants to India for the period 2001 and 2006, four-fifths of it
for poverty reduction. Development cooperation will focus on
the states of Rajasthan and Chattisgarh, and will be largely
devoted to education and health programmes.

1.18
The EESC must respond effectively to this rush of poli-
tically significant developments in a period of six months, the
first half of 2005. The European Commission in fact has
proposed in its June Communication that the Round Table
should be fully integrated into the India-EU institutional
machinery, with its co-chairs invited to present non-binding
policy recommendations to the summit. The Council supported
the Commission's proposals to increase mutual understanding
through ‘increased cooperation between political parties, trade
unions, business associations, universities and civil societies.’
And The Hague summit agreed to ‘promote cooperation
between political parties, trade unions, business associations,
universities and civil societies.’

1.15
Cooperation in science and technology, which began
in the mid-1980s, has emerged as one of the most promising
areas of India-EU cooperation. The 2002 scientific and techno-

1.19
This own-initiative opinion also looks at the ways in
which the Round Table can be made more effective, and its
website, the India-EU civil society Internet Forum, used both to
add to the Round Table's effectiveness and to reach out to a
much wider range of Indian and European civil society organi-
sations.

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2. Contributing to the India-EU Strategic Partnership

2.1
The Round Table welcomed the launch of the India-EU
strategic partnership, when it met in London in December,
2004, and undertook to contribute to the Joint Action Plan to
be drawn up in 2005, ahead of the sixth India-EU summit. It
declared its intention ‘to make proposals in areas where civil
society can bring real added value, particularly with regard to
achieving the Millennium Development Goals, promoting
sustainable development and managing globalisation.’ The
Round Table also undertook to see how civil society can help
implement the Joint Declaration on Cultural Relations.

The Round Table, like the EESC, is well placed to contri-
2.2
bute to the India-EU strategic partnership. Since its inaugural
meeting in New Delhi in January 2001, the Round Table has
(1) discussed many of the topics covered by the European
Commission in its 16 June Communication, and (2) made
recommendations to the India-EU summits on these very
topics. At its London meeting it recognised that the emerging
strategic partnership ‘provided opportunities to enhance and
widen the role of civil society, through the forum of the Round
Table.’ The Round Table had already discussed and made
recommendations on a number of issues, including globalisa-
tion, trade and investment; the WTO; intellectual property, and
media and culture at its second meeting, held in Brussels in
July 2001. It not only returned to these subjects at subsequent
meetings, but also broadened its agenda to include cooperation
in food and agribusiness; human rights in the work place;
sustainable development and tourism. It will take its earlier
exchanges on cultural issues a good deal further with a
discussion, at its next meeting, on cultural and religious
pluralism in democratic societies.

2.3
Rather than look at all the topics raised by the European
Commission in the framework of the strategic partnership, the
Round table decided at its London meeting to confine itself to
those areas where civil society has a unique contribution to
make. It could therefore usefully consider its contribution to
the following areas, identified by the Commission as important
elements of the emerging strategic partnership.

2.3.2 Migration: International migration has increased in the
face of globalisation, the Commission notes. This has led to
increased migrant
remittances, on the one hand, and to
problems of illegal migration and human trafficking on the
other. The Commission favours a comprehensive dialogue,
covering not only legal migration, including labour migration
and the movement of workers, and visa issues, but also
combating smugglers and traffickers, the return and readmis-
sion of illegal migrants, and other migration-related subjects.

rights, corporate social

2.3.3
Democracy and human rights: The Commission favours
extending the present dialogue to such topics as abolition of
the death penalty, gender discrimination, child labour and
labour
responsibility and religious
freedom. The Commission is prepared to fund projects in India
under the European Initiative for Human Rights and Democ-
racy. The EESC feels that caste-based discriminations need to be
addressed.

issues:

Environmental

2.3.4
India and the EU should work
together to promote cooperation on global environmental chal-
lenges, like the UN Conventions on Biological Diversity, where
a constructive dialogue could be developed on ‘Access and
Benefit Sharing’ (ABS). India would be invited to organise an
India-EU Environmental Forum,
including civil society and
business, in order to exchange views, know-how and scientific
and technical information. The Committee believes that issues of
energy policy and energy security should be addressed in the near
future by the India-EU Round Table.

2.3.5
Sustainable development: To be promoted through
dialogue on issues such as encouraging trade flows in sustain-
ably produced goods, labelling and sustainable impact assess-
ment, according to the European Commission. The Commis-
sion also supports greater use of the Sustainable Trade and
Innovation Centre (STIC).

Conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction: These
2.3.1
are areas in which India has played an important part, both
through the UN and bilaterally, as in Afghanistan, as the
Commission has pointed out. Hence its proposal that that the
EU and India explore ways of formalising regular cooperation
in these areas. The Commission also suggests that they co-
sponsor a UN conference on conflict prevention and post-
conflict management, and start a dialogue on the contribution
of regional integration to conflict prevention.

Development cooperation: India has reduced the number
2.3.6
of bilateral donors to six (the EU, UK, Germany, US, Japan and
Russia). The country in fact has become both a recipient and a
donor of development aid. Even so, the Commission wants the
EU to help India meet the Millennium Development Goals.
Social and economic cohesion could be made a priority, based
on the experience gained in EU support programmes in India
in elementary education and basic health. The Commission
believes that EU development cooperation should focus increas-
ingly on helping marginalised groups. It should also support
the promotion of the core ILO conventions. In the view of the
EESC, India should ratify the 3 core ILO Conventions which have not
yet been ratified by India.

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2.3.7
Cultural cooperation: The Commission wants to rein-
force cooperation in film and music in particular. A Cultural
Week would be held to coincide with the political and business
summits. The Committee notes that the 2006 year for inter-cultural
dialogue could provide a suitable opportunity for the Round Table to
address the issue.

2.3.8
Visibility: Indian public opinion needs to be informed
of all the facets of the EU, not just its trade relations, in the
Commission's view. It will launch a research project to identify
target audiences, key messages, main instruments and how best
to deploy them. Member states as well as the European Parlia-
ment are invited to contribute to the work of raising the EU's
profile in India. New Delhi would be expected to devise its own
communications strategy.

2.3.9
Trade and investment: As the European Commission
points out in its Communication, trade and investment form ‘a
cornerstone of the India-EU relationship.’ Several of the propo-
sals contained in its Communication therefore deal with these
two subjects, at both the multilateral and bilateral levels. The
Commission wants the EU to achieve greater convergence with
India on key issues in the Doha Development round of trade
negotiations in the WTO. It also favours a bilateral dialogue on
intellectual property rights (IPR), for example, in order to reach
a common understanding on TRIPS.

2.4
In a section of its Communication devoted to boosting
business-to-business cooperation, the Commission wants the
EU to help set up a Business Leaders Round Table. The
proposal has the support of The Hague summit. Meanwhile,
the India-EU Joint Initiative for enhancing trade and investment
has enabled a direct dialogue between business and policy
makers.
Indian business and industrial organisations already
hold an India-EU Business Summit to coincide with the poli-
tical summit, and submit the findings of the business leaders to
their political leaders.

2.5
Given that the Round Table's members are drawn
from business and employers' organisations also, it could
usefully consider how best to take part in the activities,
jointly undertaken by the Indian and European business
communities. While it clearly has a role to play in strength-
ening the India-EU economic partnership favoured by the
Commission, the Round Table's contribution to the Joint
Action Plan should focus on promoting sustainable devel-
opment
the London
meeting decided.

and managing globalisation,

as

European Commission or in preparation, and mentioned
in its Communication. They include a European studies
programme at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. A
scholarship programme, with a budget of EUR33 million,
should
year
from the
2005/2006.
It will be linked to the EU's Erasmus Mundus
programme, and will focus on postgraduate studies for Indian
students in EU universities.

operational

academic

become

3. Civil society in India and Europe

What do we mean by ‘civil society?’ The EESC believes that ‘it
can be defined only loosely, as a society that embraces democ-
racy. Civil society is a collective term for all types of social
action, by individuals or groups, that do not emanate from the
state and are not run by it’ (1). Its advocates in India would
agree that civil society embraces democracy and that it can act
effectively only in a democracy. Indeed, some who are active in
civil society organisations in India have been inspired by the
achievements of civil society in Europe and the United States,
others by the tradition of social and political activism estab-
lished by Mahatma Gandhi.

3.1 Civil society in India

The growing importance of

3.1.1
Indian civil society is
evident in the proliferation of all kinds of voluntary organisa-
tions. (This is the preferred term in India; the term ‘non-govern-
mental organisation,’ or NGO, has become popular only in the
last 20 years.) Their number was estimated at between 50 000
and 100 000 some 10 years ago, and it has almost certainly
risen since then. Civil society organisations engage in a wide
range of activities throughout India, and include business and
professional organisations and trade unions.

3.1.2

Indian civil society organisations:

— are engaged in the traditional development activities asso-
ciated with NGOs — running literacy programmes, oper-
ating dispensaries and clinics, helping artisans, such as
weavers, market their products, etc. As they usually operate
at the local level, they also help government agencies imple-
ment public policy in a decentralised manner;

— conduct in-depth research in order to lobby the Central and

State governments and/or industry;

The Round Table's members

2.6
come from the
academic community also. It could therefore consider its
contribution to the academic programmes set up by the

(1) Economic and Social Committee, ‘Opinion on the role and contribu-
tion of civil society organisations in the building of Europe’, pt. 5.1.,
adopted on 22 September 1999, OJ C 329, 17.11.1999).

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— try to raise the political awareness of various social groups,

encouraging them to demand their rights;

— represent special interest groups, such as the disabled, the

aged and refugees;

— act as innovators, trying out new approaches in solving

social problems;

— represent Employer organisations,
organisations and cooperatives;

trade unions, mutual

— include organisations representing farmers;

— include organisations active in combating the spread of

HIV/AIDS, and

— finally, there are the activists. Since the 1970s they have
been forming broad-based social movements — farmers'
movements; women's movements, defining and promoting
women's issues; environmental movements, which try to
get the government to pay more attention to environmental
concerns; movements defending consumers' rights, etc.

On development issues in particular both NGOs and
3.1.3
the government feel they must work as partners. Thus the
country's Planning Commission has funded voluntary organisa-
tions at various times. The tenth 5-year plan, the latest, notes
that:

‘Plans should be reflective of the actual requirements of
people, and economically and socially sensitive to the ethos
of people for whom they are meant. People must feel the
sense of ownership of such plans and must contribute to
such end. The trend of expecting the government to do
everything for the people must end; programmes and sche-
dules where people participate have been known to be
much more effective.’

3.1.4
The Planning Commission has a voluntary action cell,
which is its interface with the voluntary sector. It has now
decided ‘to form consultative groups … consisting of people
from various parts of
is
happening on the ground and who can suggest what needs to
be changed and how,’ according to Ms Sayeeda Hameed, a
member of the Planning Commission. (2)

the country who know what

The Congress Party has always been supportive of civil
3.1.5
society, and the Congress-led coalition government in New
Delhi is likely to attach greater importance to its activities than
its predecessor. Shortly after it was set up, the new Government
held consultations with civil society organisations, to get their

(2) Opening the Planning Commission to the people: Sayeeda Hameed,
by Rajashri Dasgupta. InfoChange News and Features, September
2004.

response to its Common Minimum Programme (CMP). It has
set up a National Advisory Council (NAC), chaired by Mrs.
Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Congress Party, which should be
seen in this light. A leading Congress Party member who was
associated with the creation of the NAC, noted that it ‘would
be the interface of
the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
government with civil society; it will bring in fresh thinking
into planning that otherwise is not associated with the govern-
ment’ (3). The NAC, whose 12 members were nominated by
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is expected to advise him on
how the Alliance's Common Minimum Programme should be
implemented. While advisors to governments are often retired
civil servants or diplomats, half the members of the NAC are
hands-on public workers from the non-governmental sector (4).
Mrs Sonia Gandhi would like to give priority initially to agri-
culture, education, health and employment.

3.2 Civil society in the European Union (5)

3.2.1
Civil society is as dynamic in the EU as it is in India
the local,
with numerous organizations that are active at
national and EU level. But it has an important advantage over
the latter: organised European civil society has its own ‘apex
body’ in Indian jargon — the European Economic and Social
Committee (EESC) in Brussels. What is more the EESC is an
integral part of the institutions set up under the 1957 Treaty of
Rome, which established the 6-nation European Economic
Community, that is today's 25-nation European Union (6). The
EESC today has 317 members, drawn from the 25 Member
States. They are appointed by the EU Council of Ministers, on
the basis of proposals by the Member States. Members belong
to one of three groups: employers, workers and various other
interests. Members of the third group represent farmers, small
and medium-sized enterprises, artisans, the professions, coop-
eratives, consumer organisations, environmental protection
groups, family associations, women's organisations, scientists
and teachers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), etc.,
according to the Treaty of Rome.

(3) ‘The Hindu’, 26 June 2004. Very similar views were expressed by
Jaswant Singh, Minister for External Affairs, in the BJP-led coalition
government, when he inaugurated the EU-India Round Table with
Commission Chris Patten in 2001.

(4) They include Prof. Jean Dreze, an Indian citizen of Belgian origin
two former
who has been associated with Dr. Amartya Sen;
members of the Planning Commission, MM. C.H. Hanumantha Rao
and D. Swaminathan. Those from civil society organisations include
Ms Aruna Roy, a social activist; Jayaprakash Narayan (health and
environment); Ms Mirai Chatterjee (SEWA) and Madhav Chavan
(primary education).

it

(5) A reference to European civil society may seem unnecessary, espe-
cially if
limited to the European Economic and Social
Committee. But the Indian civil society organisations will be inter-
ested to know that their EU counterparts have what in Indian
jargon is an ‘apex body’.

is

(6) Article 193 of

the Treaty stipulated that

‘the Committee shall
consist of representatives of the various categories of economic and
social activity, in particular, representatives of producers, farmers,
carriers, workers, dealers, craftsmen, professional occupations and
representatives of the general public’.

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3.2.2
The EESC is a non-political consultative body, with
advisory powers. Its purpose is to inform the EU institutions
responsible for decision-making of the views of its members.
There are some 14 policy areas in which a decision may be
taken by the EU Council or European Commission only after it
has consulted the EESC. These areas include: agriculture; the
free movement of persons and services; social policy, education,
vocational training and youth; public health; consumer protec-
tion; industrial policy; research and technological development
and the environment. The Council, Commission and European
Parliament may also consult the EESC on any other matter, as
they see fit. The EESC, for its part, may also issue an opinion
on matters it regards important of consideration; hence this
‘own-initiative opinion’ on EU-India relations.

The EESC's role as a facilitator of a dialogue with civil
3.2.3
society extends beyond the borders of the 25-nation European
Union. It is an active participant in an on-going dialogue with
the Euromed partnership countries and the African, Caribbean
and Pacific (ACP) countries with whom the EU is linked
through the Cotonu Convention.
It also is engaged in a
dialogue with civil society in the Latin American countries,
including the Mercosur states and,
last but not least India-
through the India-EU Round Table and China.

EUR 1.8 trillion (from EUR 2 trillion). This is because the trade
between the EU-15 and the 10 candidate countries is now part
of the internal trade of the 25-nation EU.

4.3 With enlargement, the EU's borders have expanded. The
EU began to develop policies, aimed at creating ‘a ring of
friends’, in advance of enlargement, however. To this end it has
conceived the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), covering
six East European countries
(Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia,
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus) and nine southern Mediterra-
nean countries — Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya,
Morocco, Syria and Tunisia — and the Palestinian Authority.
The aim of the ENP, as confirmed by the EU Council in April,
2004, is to ‘share the benefits of an enlarged EU with neigh-
bouring countries, in order to contribute to increased stability,
security and prosperity of the European Union and its neigh-
bours (7)’. The ENP involves ‘a significant degree of economic
integration and a deepening of political cooperation, with the
aim of preventing the emergence of new dividing lines between
the enlarged EU and its neighbours’, according to the Council.

4. Recent developments in India and the EU

4.1
A full account of the dramatic changes taking place
in both the EU and India would run to several hundred
pages. This report focuses on the key developments that
will enable the EESC to contribute more effectively to
strengthening EU-India relations. The key developments as
regards the EU are its enlargement to 25 Member States, action
to create a wider Europe through the European Neighbourhood
Policy (ENP) and the implementation of the ‘Lisbon Strategy’
which the European Council adopted in Lisbon in March,
2000. This strategy, with its emphasis on sustainable develop-
ment, seeks to make the EU the most competitive and dynamic
knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. Another key
development has been the agreement on a European Constitu-
tion, which now awaits ratification by the 25 Member States.

The EU's enlargement on 1 May 2004 has dramatically
4.2
altered both the political and economic landscape of Europe.
The political consequences of enlargement are likely to be
more important than the economic, if only because the process
of integrating the economies of the 10 new member states
began well before they formally joined the EU on 1 May 2004.
Enlargement has raised the EU's population from 380 million
to 455 million, so that it now accounts for 7.3 % of world
population. It has increased the EU's gross domestic product
(GDP) from EUR 9.3 trillion to EUR 9.7 trillion, raising the
EU's share of world GDP to 28.7 %. Enlargement has resulted,
however,
in per capita GDP to EUR 21.000 (from
EUR 24,100) and a fall in its trade with non-EU countries to

in a fall

India,

In the case of

the key development was the
4.4
largely unexpected outcome of the general elections held in
May, which resulted in a Congress-led coalition under Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh succeeding the BJP-led coalition
under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The high level of
participation in the general elections, the successful use of elec-
tronic voting machines
the country, and the
throughout
smooth transfer of power in New Delhi, despite the political
upheaval occasioned by the elections results, all justified India's
claim to be the world's largest democracy.

that

The Congress party's surprise victory led to speculation
4.5
that any Congress-led coalition government either could not
last or would be obliged, by its ‘outside’ supporters,
the
Communist party in particular, to roll back the reforms. It
must be remembered, however,
the reforms, which
included dismantling import controls and opening up capital
markets, were launched by a Congress government in 1991,
and that
its chief architects were the new Prime Minister,
Manmohan Singh, and the new Finance Minister, Palaniappan
Chidambaram. The latter in fact sees himself as the ‘investment
in the Congress-led coalition. In other words, civil
minister’
society organisations representing business and finance, such as
those represented on the EU-India Round Table, will work with
him to develop the country's knowledge-based economic
sectors.

The Government nevertheless wants

economic
4.6
strategy to have ‘a human face’, in order to lift out of poverty
the estimated 300 million Indians surviving on less than
EUR 0.75 ($1) a day. Hence its efforts to achieve annual
growth rates of 7 % to 8 %, to help farmers, empower women
and increase spending on health and education.

its

(7) General Affairs Council of 14 June 2004. European Neighbourhood

Policy — Council conclusions.

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4.7
The challenges facing Indian civil society would provide
European civil society organisations an opportunity to coop-
erate with Indian counterparts, to their mutual benefit. This
would be done initially through the EU-India Round Table, but
could involve,
fairly quickly, organisations with which the
European and Indian members of the Round Table have close
links as well as other members of the EESC with expertise in
rural development, health and education,
for example. This
collaboration in the field, as it were, between European and
Indian civil society would ensure that the Round Table's recom-
mendations to the annual EU-India summits were practical,
because based on experience.

ment, practical examples from India and the EU should form
the basis of the final report, to be submitted to the 9th meeting
of the Round Table. The Srinagar meeting also discussed India-
EU cooperation for developing tourism, on the basis of a
presentation made by EESC and Indian delegates of the Round
Table. The Round Table agreed that civil society organisations
have an important role to play in the promotion of a sustain-
able form of tourism, one which encourages economic and
social development and benefits the population as a whole.

5. The EU-India civil society dialogue so far

5.1
In order to map the way ahead, we must first look
at where we are coming from. The starting point for an
enhanced civil society dialogue must therefore be the
institutional machinery already in place for conducting
such a dialogue and its achievements to date. For the EESC
this means assessing the work of the EU-India Round Table to
date and agreeing on how best to further its aims, always
bearing in mind such related developments as the Hague
Summit decision to promote cooperation between not only
civil societies but also political parties, trade unions, employer
organisations and universities.

5.2
Reference has been made to the issues that have been
discussed at the various meetings of the Round Table since its
inception in 2001, in order to demonstrate its credibility as a
key partner in the elaboration of the Joint Action Plan. Some
idea of the continuity in the work of the Round Table, the
scope of the topics under discussion, and the atmosphere
of trust in which these discussions take place may be had
by looking at the outcome of recent meetings.

Thus at its sixth meeting, held in Rome, the Round
5.3
Table made a series of recommendations, ranging from initia-
tives to support Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and
special support for SMEs to the rationalisation of regulations
governing the temporary movement of knowledge workers
from India within the EU, and support by the EU of industrial
clusters in a few select sectors which have export potential and
promote development. At
the same time the Round Table
nominated two rapporteurs to assess how better to integrate
the perspectives of civil society organisations into the promo-
tion of trade and sustainable development.

5.4
This topic was discussed at the 7th meeting of the Round
Table, held in Srinagar in June 2004. It was agreed that in
order to deepen a joint understanding of sustainable develop-

5.5
The Rome, Srinagar and London meetings discussed the
establishment of the civil society Internet Forum, as recom-
mended by the Bangalore meeting in March 2003. The meet-
ings highlighted the Forum's potential as an ongoing forum of
discussion between Indian and European members of
the
Round Table and an instrument for enhancing the dialogue
between civil society organisations in general.

5.6
The Rome meeting also reviewed the Round Table's
main achievements to date. It endorsed the view that an assess-
ment of this achievements cannot be limited to a numerical
analysis of the number of recommendations which have been
implemented, not least because a number of these recommen-
dations are not within the capacity or remit of EU and Indian
civil society to implement. The fact remains that the Round
Table has
and joint
actually adopted recommendations
approaches on a variety of topics, including those which could
be considered sensitive, if not controversial. It has also high-
lighted specific forms of cooperation, such as the creation of
the Internet Forum, organised hearings of local civil society
organisations during its biannual meetings, and promoted ad
hoc EESC-India collaboration, such as the help given by the
Indian delegation to the EESC, in its work on the Generalised
System of Preferences.

Given that 60–70 % of

5.7
the working population is
engaged formally or informally in agriculture, discussions in
the India-EU Round Table on issues relating to farming and
rural development have been hampered by the absence of
farmers' representatives in the Indian delegation of the Round
Table.

5.8.
The Round Table meeting looked at the mechanisms
for labour relations and social dialogue in the European Union.
It took note of current practice in the Union regarding the
actors involved in social dialogue, issues relating to the designa-
tion and representativeness of those actors, and the different
forums where this dialogue happens. The Round Table also
analysed the current labour situation in India,
including the
trade unions and collective
structure and composition of

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bargaining,
labour law reform and India's policy regarding
proposals to link labour standards with international trade. It
was noted that a large part of the labour force in India is
working in the so-called informal sector (small businesses, self-
employment, casual employment), and that more should be
done to improve the situation of employees. In addition, more
efforts are needed to secure the ratification of ILO core labour
standards and their implementation in Law and Practice.

6.5
If the Round Table is to be effective in the decision-
shaping and decision-making process, its agenda clearly must
include topics under discussion at the official
level such as
those relating to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the
Doha Development round of trade negotiations. The Round
Table could increase its effectiveness by collaborating with the
EU-India Business Summit, organised by two of its members,
from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Indian Industries
Industry (FICCI) and the Confederation of
(CII). It should also ask to be associated with the projected busi-
ness leaders' Round Table proposed by the European Commis-
sion.

6. An enhanced civil society dialogue: the way ahead

6.1
The time is ripe for an exponential growth in coopera-
tion and collaboration between organised civil society in the
25-nation EU and India. The EU-India summit has already
recognised the importance of the work of the Round Table.
The Indian Government has taken a number of decisions aimed
at strengthening collaboration with civil society in India. The
European Commission, in its Communication of 16 June, has
called for the Round Table to ‘be fully integrated into the insti-
tutional architecture’, and its two co-chairpersons to be invited
to attend the India-EU summit meetings.

The Indian government noted, in its initial response to
6.2
the 16 June Communication, that despite the efforts at ‘the offi-
cial level to keep pace with the changes that India and the EU
have been undergoing … there is still a need for enhancing the
level of contacts at other levels, including between our respec-
tive civil societies’.

6.3
The question that inevitably arises is, how can the
Round Table be more effective in the decision-shaping
and decision-making process, especially as it enjoys the
rare privilege of direct access to the highest political
authorities,
the Indian Prime Minister and the prime
minister of the country holding the Presidency of the EU
Council, at their annual summits? Section 2 of this own-
initiative opinion, on ‘Contributing to the India-EU Strategic
Partnership’, has indicated how the Round Table can contribute
effectively to the preparation of the Joint Action Plan for a stra-
last only until the sixth
tegic partnership. This activity will
India-EU summit, which is expected to endorse the Plan when
it meets during the latter part of 2005.

6.4 Many of the Round Table's recommendations to the
India-EU summits will
involve medium to long-term
commitments. Experience suggests that the recommendations
should also relate to projects to be implemented jointly by
society organisations. Political
European and Indian civil
support would make it easier to secure any funds that may be
needed, and would allow organised Indian and European civil
society to collaborate on a wide range of projects (8).

(8) Evidence of this was provided by the decision of the Ministry of
External Affairs in New Delhi, to make available the funds needed
to meet the operating costs in India of the EU-India Internet Forum
set up by the Round Table.

6.6
As the Round Table's membership includes academics, it
could usefully contribute to the success of the EUR 33 million
launched by the European
scholarship programme for India,
Commission in 2005. The EESC itself could expand its own
initiatives on India, such as its earlier decision to ask the Round
Table's Indian co-chair to take part in its seminar on the WTO
after Cancun.

that

rather

The fact

implications. This is what

6.7
the channels of communication
between officials and business leaders on economic issues
are multiplying, does not mean that the Round Table
should limit its own discussions on these issues. On the
contrary. But
than focusing on their purely
economic aspects, it should look at their non-economic,
particularly social,
the Round
Table agreed in Srinagar to do in the case of sustainable devel-
opment: it will consider the concept as incorporating not only
the economic aspect of development strategy but also its social
and environmental aspects. Outsourcing is another topic which
lends itself to such an approach. The issues raised in the EU by
outsourcing are very different from those which it has raised in
India, but they have this in common: the most difficult to
resolve are social
In other words, by
issues in both cases.
adopting a holistic approach the Round Table will be able to
ensure that the non-economic aspects of what are deemed
essentially economic subjects are given equal weight.

This shift in focus will allow the Round Table to
6.8
organise EU-India conferences on social
issues, as a
complement to the business and political summits. Topics
for these conferences can be selected from those already
discussed by the Round Table, such as gender equality.
topics could include the social effects of
Additional
outsourcing and emigration, for example. The importance
of such conferences for the balanced development of both
European and Indian society cannot be overstated.

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It can usefully contribute,
society and cultural cooperation.
therefore,
(1) to the efforts of the member states, European
Parliament and European Commission in raising the EU's
profile in India, particularly among civil society organisations,
and (2) to the elaboration of a specific chapter on cultural
cooperation in the Action Plan for a Strategic Partnership, on
the basis of the India-EU Joint Declaration on Cultural Coopera-
tion of 8 November 2004.

7. Conclusions

their

The EU and India are more determined than ever
7.1
before to broaden and deepen their cooperation. The latest
evidence of this is the speed with which the European Commis-
sion and India's diplomatic mission to the EU have begun work
on the Action Plan for an India-EU Strategic Partnership. Both
to contribute to this
want
process. The EESC is already helping bring European and
Indian civil societies together through its active participation in
the India-EU Round Table, its financial support for the India-
EU Internet Forum, and its invitations to the Round Table's
Indian co-chair, N. N. Vohra, to take part in activities relevant
to India-EU relations.

respective civil

societies

7.2
Having welcomed the European Commission's Commu-
nication on the India-EU Strategic Partnership, the EESC must
the relevant
now contribute actively to the elaboration of
Action Plan. The London meeting of the Round Table under-
took ‘to make proposals to the European Institutions and
Indian government in areas where civil society can bring real
added value, particularly with regard to the Millennium Devel-
opment Goals, promoting sustainable development and mana-
ging globalisation’.

The Indian government has welcomed the EU's enlarge-
7.3
In the Joint Press Statement issued after The Hague
ment.
summit on 8 November 2004, India affirmed its view that
‘deepening and widening of the EU should contribute to further
strengthening of our relations’. The EESC, as the consultative
body representing European civil society, must therefore both
ensure that the 25-nation EU is adequately represented on the
Round Table, and raise the profile of India-EU relations in its
own activities. The India-EU Round Table can thus become a
model for the EESC's relations with other developing countries
and regions of the world.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Anne-Marie SIGMUND

‘a dialogue of civilisations,

6.9
The Round Table will need to look at cultural issues
in a more focused way. It could contribute to the imple-
mentation to the India-EU Joint Declaration on Cultural
Relations. But the Round Table could usefully look at the
recommendation for
interfaith
dialogue and cultures’, submitted by representatives of Asian
civil society to the Asia-Europe Meeting (better known as the
ASEM Summit) when they met in Barcelona in June, 2004 (9).
ASEM leaders have already begun a dialogue of civilisations,
which was attended by EU heads of state or government, but
not India, as it is not a member of ASEM. In its response to the
Commission's Communication India has indicated its readiness
to engage in a dialogue with the EU on the problems posed by
religious extremism and fundamentalism.

6.10
Success in these ventures will require the Round
Table to reach out to far more civil society organisations
than it can physically accommodate during its meetings.
But it already has the perfect instrument for this purpose
— the Internet Forum which it has set up. By opening up
the Forum to other civil society organisations in the EU
and India, the Round Table can involve them in its discus-
sions. As the number of such organisations is very large,
access can be limited initially to organisations known to the
members of
to these
exchanges
the Round Table would
continue to invite local civil society organisations to its regular
meetings.

the Round Table. As a complement

through cyberspace,

6.11
The Internet Forum also offers a ready channel of
communication for the members of the Round Table in-
between their biannual meetings, given that the Indian
members are scattered across the length and breadth of
their country. Draft reports can be posted on the Forum, for
comments by members in advance of the meeting. Discussions
during the meeting itself would be much richer as a result, and
the recommendations to the EU-India summits more focused.
The members can keep each other informed of their own activ-
ities, thus making it possible for them to know each other
better, certainly at the professional level. And as the number of
European and Indian organisations accessing the Forum
to start
those with shared interests could use it
increases,
working more closely with each other, sharing experiences to
begin with, but going on to develop joint projects.

6.12
Two further issues which the Round Table has exten-
sively discussed are the role of the media in strengthening civil

Brussels, 12 May 2005.

(9) The Barcelona Report. Recommendations form civil society on Asia-
Europe relations, addressed to the ASEM leaders. Connecting Civil
Society from Asia & Europe: an informal consultation. 16-18 June
2004, Barcelona, Spain.