EU-India Defense Pact Faces Limits as Europe Weighs Ukraine, China Ties
India and the EU have opened defense talks this year, but differences over Russia and China keep their cooperation at the national level.
By Fatou Mitchell ·
The doors opened, but the room stays divided.
India and the European Union signed a Security and Defense Partnership in January, their first formal Security and Defense Dialogue followed in March, and the fifth Maritime Security Dialogue met in Brussels last month. The two sides have also met through the year on other defense matters. Europe wants a larger role in the Indo-Pacific, and India's defense cooperation with Europe has grown through individual countries rather than through Brussels. Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland have become partners in this work, and Germany has joined France in selling major equipment to India.
Mohan Kumar, a former Indian ambassador to France, said Europe "can be a credible defense partner of India, especially in the maritime theater in general and Indo-Pacific in particular." He added that the Ukraine conflict, which he called existential for Europe, can pull attention away from that goal. France is the exception in Europe: it holds military positions on Reunion Island and Mayotte, and it works with India in the region. Javed Ashraf, an Indian diplomat, called France "a strong, trusted and consistent security partner across the full spectrum of defense cooperation." He noted France has no defense cooperation with Pakistan or China at present.
Tara Kartha, formerly of India's National Security Council Secretariat, said Europe as a bloc has little role in Indo-Pacific security even after announcing a strategy in 2025. She pointed to political differences among member states. Those differences were visible at the EU summit in Brussels on October 15 and 16, where leaders reaffirmed support for Ukraine but signaled disagreements over funding and national priorities. Ashraf said Brussels could open access to EU-funded programs in maritime security, space, critical minerals, chips and defense technologies. He also said India is becoming a source of defense supplies for a re-arming Europe. Kumar suggested India could gain access to drone technology based on Europe's experience in Ukraine.
Russia and China stand in the way of a closer defense relationship. India still depends heavily on Russian equipment and technology while working to diversify, and European governments have been in a tense standoff with Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Gulshan Sachdeva, a professor of European Studies at Jawahalal Nehru University, said India can buy Rafale jets from France or submarines from Germany, but integrating India's defense industry into Europe's value chain is harder while Russia remains Europe's principal security concern. China presents a different problem. India treats it as a rival and a source of security problems, including a continuing border dispute. The EU calls China a "systemic rival," yet its members differ on balancing security concerns against economic ties with Beijing, which makes a shared assessment of Indo-Pacific threats harder to reach.
The partnership gives India and the EU a framework for engagement, but not a joint security commitment. Ashraf said the two sides can strengthen each other's capabilities but are unlikely to exert visible influence on the global security order. Maritime domain awareness, information-sharing, defense technology and selective industrial cooperation remain the goals within reach for now.
