Indo-European relations

During a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to a summit in France, the European Union and India have agreed to double their trade volume within five years to 100 billion euros per year. Jean-Joseph Boillot, co-founder of the Euro-India Economic & Business Group (EIEBG), analyses in Les Echos the relations between the two trading partners: "People talk about an identity crisis, an institutional crisis. But one often forgets that every new definition of Europe is the identification of a 'European interest' in the globalised world, and thus vis-à-vis the new historical actors who are trying to re-establish themselves as major powers. Over the course of the summer we have observed this with China and Russia. ... It is sometimes amusing to read that India is an economic 'dwarf' compared with Europe. But what Europe? A collection of 'small' countries or a large democratic bloc capable of making the concessions necessary for it to exist tomorrow?"

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