New Delhi: Europe was facing a “rude awakening” after years of growing economic dependence on China, Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever said, adding that India had warned Europe about the risks long before it recognised them itself.
De Wever, who is on a two-day visit to India, said Europe had for too long allowed cheap foreign goods to flood its markets, undermining domestic industries while leaving the continent increasingly dependent on external suppliers.
He said this while speaking at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) event in Delhi on Friday.
“For Europe, these past years have been a rude awakening. For too long, Europe looked on as overcapacity was dumped below costs on our markets. As its industrial base was undermined and as dependencies were deliberately built up so that it could be used as leverage,” he said, without directly naming China.
India had recognised the danger before Europe did and had warned European countries about the consequences of such economic dependencies, De Wever said.
“India saw this earlier than we did. And they warned us. And we didn’t listen,” he said, in an apparent reference to China’s growing economic footprint and the dumping of goods in European markets.
Europe was now confronting the consequences of allowing such dependencies to build up, including the possibility of economic relationships being turned into instruments of political pressure, the Belgian leader said, as reported by India Today.
He also directly credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with having warned Europe about the broader threat.
“Your Prime Minister warned Europe about this a long time ago. But he was ignored. He was not listened to. But we are listening now,” De Wever said.
He made it clear that Brussels now sees India as a particularly important and trusted partner at a time of geopolitical uncertainty.
India is No 1 on our list. If India is not on your list, then you are missing something fundamental,” he said.
Questioning the reliability of countries that could abruptly change trade policies or impose tariffs, he argued that Belgium needed partners with whom it could build relationships based on trust.
“Who else can cooperate with us on the basis of trust?” De Wever asked.
His country wanted to take relations with India to “another level, not only economically and politically, but also strategically”, the Belgian PM said.
His comments also assume significance in the context of India’s security concerns. In the context of the deepening defence relationship, Belgium is understood to have conveyed to New Delhi that it will not supply critical military hardware to Pakistan.
The message comes as India and Belgium move towards closer defence-industry cooperation, including arrangements that could facilitate joint production of military hardware in India using Belgian technology.
Ten agreements involving Indian and Belgian defence industries were firmed up on the sidelines of the PM Modi-De Wever talks.
Some of the cooperation is expected to cover joint production of military equipment, including rockets, in India.
The two countries also agreed to expand military exchanges and training, while strengthening intelligence-sharing and cooperation between their agencies.
PM Modi described defence and security cooperation as a “key pillar” of the broader India-Belgium relationship.
