EU–India Security and Defence Cooperation in the Twenty First Century: Challenges and Prospects
Excerpt
The EU-India cooperation in the security and defence sector has witnessed a major transformation especially in the last decade. During the 13th European Union-India summit held in March 2016 in Brussels, both sides endorsed the EU-India Agenda for Action 2020 as a common roadmap to jointly guide and strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership, including security and defence cooperation. This study examines EU’s and India’s perspectives on these issues, including an assessment of their degree of convergence – or divergence - regarding their bilateral approaches to security and defence cooperation. We argue in favour of increased collaboration between the two partners on a number of major security issues, including terrorism and the question of refugees. Furthermore, we assess the role of the EU in fighting piracy and promoting security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and discuss the prospect for India-EU cooperation in fighting piracy.