Introduction

British PM Keir Starmer’s visit to Mumbai, the new EFTA trade pact, and ongoing EU-India trade talks in Brussels reflect Europe’s growing weight in India’s foreign policy. After years of limited engagement, Europe is emerging as a central partner in Delhi’s strategic calculus, just as the continent itself begins to assert geopolitical autonomy beyond its traditional dependence on the United States.

This marks a structural transformation in world politics, the emergence of a “multipolar West”, where Europe, North America, and Asia’s democratic powers pursue convergent but independent strategic agendas.

Historical Background: From Western Unity to Strategic Pluralism:

• Post-War Western Unity: After World War II, the “West” became synonymous with political unity under US leadership, reinforced through NATO and Cold War alliances against the Soviet bloc.
• Unipolar Moment after USSR Collapse: The collapse of the USSR in 1991 strengthened this unity, briefly creating a unipolar world centred on US dominance and Western liberal values.
• Emergence of New Power Centres: As Russia reasserted its power and China rose to global prominence, the old Western consensus began to fracture.
• India’s Advocacy for Multipolarity: Emerging powers like India called for a multipolar world — initially to balance US hegemony, but increasingly to acknowledge growing diversity within the West itself.

Shifting Dynamics: The Rise of a Multipolar West

• Erosion of Transatlantic Dependence: Donald Trump’s “America First” policy disrupted long-standing alliances, forcing Europe and Asia to reconsider their strategic dependence on Washington.
• Deepening Intra-Western Differences: Differences within the West have widened over Russia, China, trade policy, digital sovereignty, and technological standards.
• Transactional Nature of US Power: European capitals now recognise that the US may increasingly act as a transactional power — pursuing self-interest rather than collective leadership.
• Europe’s Strategic Reorientation: In response, Europe is embracing strategic autonomy to reduce vulnerability to shifting US politics and develop independent capacities in defence, technology, and industrial production.

Europe’s Quest for Sovereignty and Strategic Autonomy:

• Leadership from Paris and Berlin: Leaders like Emmanuel Macron (France) and Olaf Scholz (Germany) are spearheading efforts to build a self-reliant Europe capable of defending its own interests.
• Institutional Assertion of Autonomy: In her 2025 State of the Union address, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared that Europe must “stand on its own feet, economically, technologically, and militarily.”
• Defence and Security Cooperation: The EU is expanding defence collaboration through joint industrial initiatives and deeper coordination with partners such as the UK, Japan, South Korea, and Canada.
• Persistent Internal Divides: Despite enduring divides between East and West over Russia, and North and South over fiscal policy Europe’s trajectory is unmistakably toward a more unified and assertive role within a plural Western order.

India’s Engagement with Europe’s Strategic Evolution:

• EU–India Partnership Framework: The EU’s Joint Communication on India (September 2025) positions Delhi as a key partner in Europe’s Indo-Pacific and economic diversification strategy.
• Priority Areas of Cooperation:
  • Trade and Technology: Collaboration in semiconductors, clean energy, and digital infrastructure.
  • Connectivity: Engagement through the Global Gateway initiative, aligning with India’s infrastructure ambitions.
  • Defence and Security: Cooperation on maritime domain awareness and joint naval presence in the Indian Ocean.
  • Political Dialogue: Recognition of differences on Russia, but convergence on multilateralism and democratic resilience.
• Shift Beyond China-Centric Policy: Europe is moving beyond its earlier China-centric worldview, placing India at the centre of its Indo-Pacific engagement and supply-chain diversification efforts.

Implications of a Multipolar West for India

• Expanded Diplomatic Flexibility: A loosely knit Western order provides India with greater strategic freedom to engage multiple Western poles — the US, EU, and UK — without rigid alignment.
• Opportunity for Issue-Based Coalitions: The new order enables collaboration on shared priorities like climate action, digital governance, and critical technologies.
• Risks of Fragmentation: However, a fragmented West may weaken collective responses to authoritarian aggression and reduce coherence in global governance.
• Balancing Opportunity and Stability: India must simultaneously exploit Western pluralism and safeguard against the erosion of strategic stability that could undermine democratic solidarity.

Way Forward

• Evolving Maturity in Foreign Policy: India’s diplomacy now shows increasing sophistication — evident in renewed engagement with Europe, balanced ties with the US, Russia, and China, and pragmatic participation in both Western and non-Western coalitions such as the Quad, BRICS, and IPEF.
• Domestic Readiness as a Constraint: Despite external agility, institutional inertia, slow structural reforms, and uneven economic modernisation continue to limit India’s ability to leverage emerging global openings.
• Aligning Internal and External Transformation: To fully benefit from a multipolar West, India must synchronise domestic transformation with external ambitions, ensuring that internal capacity and policy agility match the demands of an evolving global order.

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