Diplomacy depends on more than agreements; it depends on shared meaning. Shared values have become the defining language of the EU–India partnership. But when both sides speak of sovereignty, strategic autonomy and the rules-based order, are they talking about the same ideas at all?
On January 27, Ursula von der Leyen and Narendra Modi announced the political conclusion of the EU–India free trade negotiations. Von der Leyen called it the mother of all deals: a market of two billion people, a quarter of global GDP. A Security and Defence Partnership was signed the same day. The language was familiar—shared values, the rules-based order, the world’s two largest democracies choosing cooperation in volatile times. The agreement also runs against the grain of the moment, as two large economies are opting for openness and partnership when everyone else turns transactional. I was not in the room, but I like to believe that everyone in it understood the words and took comfort in speaking a common language. That is where my questions begin.
