EU leaders von der Leyen, Costa to be chief guests at Republic Day parade

NEW new delhi: European unification (EU) leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa testament be the chief guests at the Republic daytime celebrations on jan 26 and participate in the India-EU Summit, which is expected to witness the conclusion of a trade deal currently in the final stages of negotiation.The external affairs ministry and the EU on Thursday formally announced that the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission will participate in Republic Day, a move publicly acknowledged by leaders of several EU states in recent days. The two sides are currently engaged in last-mile negotiations to give shape to the free trade agreement (FTA) to be unveiled at the India-EU Summit on January 27.This is only the second time that India has invited leaders of a grouping – after the Asean in 2018 – to be chief guests at the celebrations, an honour reserved for the country’s closest strategic and economic partners. The EU said this will be the first time the bloc’s top leaders have attended Republic Day parade celebrations as guests of honour, “signalling the strengthening of the bilateral relationship between the EU and India”.Besides the FTA, the two sides are expected to finalise a Security and Defence Partnership and a security of information agreement to drive defence industry collaboration, maritime security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, tackling of hybrid and cyber threats, and security of undersea critical infrastructure such as data cables.Costa and Von der Leyen will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and meet President Droupadi Murmu. An India-EU Business Forum will be held on the margins of the India-EU Summit, the external affairs ministry said.The participation of the EU leaders at the 77th Republic Day and the India-EU Summit will further deepen the strategic partnership and advance collaboration in priority areas such as trade, security and defence, the clean transition and people-to-people cooperation, the two sides said.“India is a crucial partner for the EU. Together, we share the capacity and responsibility to protect the rules-based international order. This meeting will be a key opportunity to build on our partnership and drive progress in our cooperation,” Costa said in a statement.Disruptions and geo-economic churn created by the Trump administration’s trade and tariff policies in the US have added urgency to efforts to finalise the trade deal with the EU, negotiations for which were relaunched in 2022 after a hiatus of almost a decade. The 27-member European bloc is keen to diversify away from the US and China while seeking access to India’s large market, people familiar with the matter said.India is the EU’s 9th largest trading partner, accounting for 2.2% of the bloc’s trade in goods in 2023. The EU is India’s largest trading partner, accounting for €124 billion in goods trade in 2023. Two-way trade in services was valued at €59.7 billion in 2023.India and the EU also launched negotiations for a bilateral investment agreement and a pact on geographical indications in 2022, though the people said these are unlikely to be concluded during the summit.India and the EU have been strategic partners since 2004, and the last bilateral summit was held virtually in July 2020. Bilateral ties have expanded and deepened across a wide range of areas, especially after the visit of the EU College of Commissioners led by Von der Leyen last February. During that visit, Modi and Von der Leyen set a target to conclude the FTA by the end of 2025.While India and the EU have made significant progress in negotiations in recent months, steel, automobiles and the European bloc’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) or tariff on imports of carbon-intensive goods, which the Indian side has described as a non-tariff barrier, continue to be contentious issues.In October 2025, the Council of the EU endorsed the new EU-India strategic agenda and its objective of further developing ties. This strategic agenda identifies five areas of shared interest – security and defence, prosperity and sustainability, technology and innovation, connectivity, and global issues.The EU is also keen to work with India, the current chair of Brics, and France, the chair of the G7, to play a greater role in shaping the global governance agenda at a time when the US is increasingly moving away from a leadership role on the international stage, the people said.