India’s World was honoured to host President von der Leyen, and is delighted to publish the full transcript of her speech:
New Delhi, 28 February 2025
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to be back here in India for such a landmark occasion for the EU-India partnership. Returning here, now for the third time as President of the Commission, is always a welcome excuse to immerse myself in your culture and democracy, your history and your modernity. And it was with real privilege and pride that I started this visit by laying a wreath in honour of Mahatma Gandhi yesterday.
It was of course Gandhi himself who famously said that a nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people. This is certainly true of India, its people and its breathtaking cultural heritage and history. And above and beyond any economic or diplomatic relations, I believe it is culture that binds the people of India and Europe together. We have a shared love of sport, art and literature. Our students and academics work and deepen their knowledge together. And our companies do business together on a scale almost unmatched around the world. All of this makes us natural and longstanding partners as we start our third decade of strategic partnership.
But, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I believe what lies ahead is far greater than what has already been. Although history can always be a useful guide for how to approach the world of today. If we think back to 1947, we see how the soul of this great nation and its struggle through history propelled India to its independence. And looking back at the voices of the time, we also hear and feel the resolve and the determination of India to build prosperity, security and democracy for its future generations. As I stand here today in this vibrant and independent country, the largest democracy in the world, the words spoken at the time were as prophetic as they were poignant. At the same time in Europe, we were trying to put back together the pieces of our Continent ravaged by war. The countries of Europe chose to come together. To tie their destinies, their security and prosperity to one another in order not to repeat the mistakes of our past. This is how the seeds of our European Union were planted.
The point is that the world then was fragile, fractured and on the verge of change that would define the next eight decades. And both Europe and India, albeit in very different circumstances, understood the need to come together. I believe this is a clarion call for all of us as we stand here in 2025 at another inflection point in history. I do not need to describe the geopolitical and geoeconomic headwinds that both the EU and India are confronted with. We have all seen how countries are weaponising their sources of strength against each other whether natural resources or new technologies, or economic and military coercion. We have seen how supply chains and dependencies are used to gain influence or drive wedges between nations and regions. We have seen a more aggressive posture from major powers and of course the conflicts that have destabilised entire regions. How countries, in particular in the Global South, are looking for alternatives to what the international system has offered them. And we have seen clear attempts to split off parts of the world into isolated fragments.
