Politico has learned about the EU's plans to conclude a trade agreement with India in 2026

The European Union (EU) plans to conclude a free trade agreement with India by the end of January 2026, rather than by the end of 2025, as previously expected. This was reported on December 15 by Politico newspaper with reference to the EU Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic.

"Everyone is united by the determination to do everything possible to conclude a free trade agreement and use every possible day before India Day (it is celebrated on January 26. — Ed.)," the publication says.

According to the newspaper, according to preliminary information, in the second week of January, Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal will meet with EU members for a round of negotiations.

It is noted that in February of this year, the Head of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to conclude a trade agreement by the end of this year. According to Politico, both politicians already understood at that time that it would be extremely difficult to conclude an agreement within the specified time frame.

As Sefcovic noted, a number of objections and disputes that arise between the EU and New Delhi are constantly hindering the process of concluding an agreement. According to him, as a result, the completion of negotiations on free trade would be an "ideal scenario," but work is still underway on the way to this agreement.

India and the EU have been negotiating free trade since 2007, but the process was suspended in 2013 due to disagreements over intellectual property, IT security, and market access for certain products. Negotiations were resumed in 2022.

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Brussels and New Delhi plan to finalize negotiations on a trade deal by the end of the year.

The Financial Times newspaper reported in September that the trade agreement between the European Union and India was in danger of collapse due to a dispute over the right to use the name "Basmati". It was noted that India applied for the exclusive use of the name "basmati" in the EU market in 2018, and Pakistan submitted a similar application in 2023.

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