 "Talks with India over FTA require both sides having 'something meaningful' to discuss: EU")
Asserting that automobiles and wines continue to be the sticking points in the long-stalled negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with India, the European Union (EU) on Tuesday said the two sides should restart talks only after they have "something meaningful" to deliberate upon.
"We cannot allow ourselves to go back to the negotiating table and not being able to bring some real progress into this process. So it is better if necessary to keep on preparing on a more backstage level so that when we sit in front of each other, we have something meaningful to deliver," Daniel Rosario, spokesperson trade, director-general communication – European Commission, told visiting Indian journalists here.
He said it does not make sense to raise expectations if both the sides are not able to deliver.
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Both the sides needs to ensure that when they sit together, "we have something to move ahead," he said.
Asked about Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's letter to EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom seeking from her dates for chief negotiators to meet, Rosario said, "we are preparing the answer".
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"For the EU and the European Commission, India is and remains an important partner and also when it comes to the trade policy we were engaged for a long period of time with India in negotiations for a free trade agreement but unfortunately the process came to a standstill a few years ago and since 2013 there was no further movement in this process," he added.
At the India-EU Summit in March, for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to Brussels, both sides failed to make the much-awaited announcement on resumption of long stalled negotiations for a free trade agreement as many bottlenecks still remain.
Asked which sectors were the sticking points for the EU in the negotiations, Rosario pointed out that it was mainly the car and car parts and the wine and spirits sector.
Expressing disappointment and concern over the EU banning sale of around 700 pharmaceutical products clinically tested by GVK Biosciences, India had deferred the talks with the 28-member bloc in August last year.
On the issue, he said India's decision to defer the talks was "not justified".
"For us this (the ban) was a step that was not really justified back at the time and we explained it why. But that is something that we will need to sort out during this process but we cannot simply ignore all the work that has been done so far," he added.
He said the GVK decision "has nothing to do with the negotiations of the trade agreement".
"It never had a link it, doesn't have a link. It was a decision taken by the EU regulators on its own merits and the decision we respect and we don't see any link whatsoever with the negotiation of the trade agreement," he said.
"What we expect again is that fortunately we are happy to see our chief negotiators were able to meet again, since then other technical meetings were held, summit was an important moment for both sides to show their commitment in reengaging in this process, lets take it from there," he added.
On the automobile sector, he argued that the EU exporters face duties of up to 100%.
"We proposed the elimination of these tariffs on both sides and at the same time acknowledging that this poses a challenge to the Indian side as well. And then we suggested long-transitional period of elimination or even going as far as asymmetric elimination of these duties in favour of India," Rosario said.
He said that the same goes for wine and spirits where the European exporters face duties of up to 150% and the proposals made in 2013 were for a gradual if not complete elimination of these duties again taking account of the Indian sensitivities.
Rosario also stated that it was not possible yet to establish the exact format for this followup of the talks but stressed that they were working on it and contacts were ongoing between the two sides to see when and how it can be done.
"The point being that there is no point meeting for the sake of meeting. If we are going to meet, let's turn these meetings into something meaningful and into something deliverable. Because the expectations are high on both sides among our stakeholders, specially after all these years of standstill," he said.
He added that it was not the EU that last year suspended attempts of moving the talks forward.
"So you have to be able to deliver in the end a deal that is both ambitious but at the same time takes into account what are the interests of both sides. I will not go into too many detail on how these ambitions and caution will be translated but we know what are the outstanding points raised by both sides," he said.
Allaying concerns over pharmaceuticals sector, he said the pact will not undermine India's right to produce generic drugs for domestic and foreign consumption.
He said that it was known on what sides the EU would like to see India move in order to translate the willingness into something more palpable for both sides and for those who are waiting for an outcome of those negotiations.
"We always try to take into account the sensitivity of our partners. The EU is used to negotiating with different type of partners," Rosario said.