Some Critical Issues in EU-India Free Trade Agreement Negotiations

Abstract

The free trade agreement currently negotiated between the European Union (EU) and India is due to be the first of a new generation of free trade agreements between the EU and an emerging economy. This paper addresses a number of critical issues in the negotiations and the EU’s response to them. These issues include European labour standards and GATS Mode 4 liberalisation; Indian generic medicine production and EU interests in patent protection; EU agricultural subsidies and their impact on the Indian dairy sector; the human rights and democracy dimension of the EU’s foreign policy; and transparency issues of the negotiation process.

Keywords: EU, India, FTA, free trade agreement, trade negotiations, generic medicines, labor rights, transparency