New Delhi: The European Union (EU) is more keen on concluding trade and investments agreements with New Delhi than discussing Kashmir and the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
“The European Union is keener on getting the trade and investments pacts concluded with India rather than speaking on issues like Kashmir and the CAA,” a top EU official, who doesn’t want to be named, told ThePrint.
But he added that the European Union is “looking forward” to the annual India-EU Summit in March to discuss Kashmir and the CAA.
The official said the EU would like to have a more “open and honest conversation” on issues such as Kashmir and the CAA during the summit. The summit will take place on 13 March for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be travelling to Belgium’s capital Brussels.
The official said although the EU is “closely following” developments in Kashmir after the Modi government scrapped Article 370 as well as the situation unfolding in the country over the CAA, it is more concerned on the pending agreements — Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) and Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA).
According to the official, these issues are of top priority to the EU as they will help India get more investments.
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Resolutions on Kashmir, CAA may be put to vote on 30 Jan
The Strasbourg-based European Parliament, meanwhile, will discuss as many as six resolutions related to Kashmir and the CAA Wednesday at its plenary in Brussels.
The European Parliament is the legislative branch of the EU.
After the discussions, the plenary will decide whether to put the resolutions to vote or not. If the plenary decides so, the resolutions will be put to vote on 30 January.
“As per its regular procedures, the European Parliament published the draft resolutions. It is important to recall that these texts are only drafts tabled by various political groups in the European Parliament,” said another EU official on condition of anonymity.
The move comes months after the Indian government conducted a guided tour of 23 members, mostly Right-wing, of the European Parliament to J&K.
“India is a key partner for the EU to address global challenges and to jointly promote rules-based multilateral order. Let me also remind you that the opinions expressed by the European Parliament and its members do not represent the official position of the European Union,” the second EU official added.
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