20 June 2020, NIICE Commentary 5367
Shreya Sinha
South Asia is rapidly emerging as a significant central region across the globe. With the unilateral withdrawal of the United States of America from several multilateral agreements, the continuance of a US-led global order seems unlikely. Concurrently, scholars have predicted the rise of the dominance of Asian politics and culture in such a way that the 21st century is forecasted to be the ‘Asian Century’, contrary to the American Century and Britain’s Imperial Century in the 20th and 19th century respectively. Within Asia, South Asia is pivotal owing to the region’s progressing economy as well as outreach. South Asia is home to rising powers as well as states in different stages in their transition towards democracy. At the same time, the region contributes significantly to the share of global trade, through its maritime access via the Indian Ocean channel.
While the European Union has acknowledged the growing potential of South Asia, history reveals that it has been a mere trading partner for the region, as opposed to being a full-fledged strategic actor. Though the EU is the largest trading partner of South Asia, the Union lacks in dealing with the countries of South Asia independently in terms of capacity building, political dialogue, incentivizing democracy building and human rights protection. As a result, the EU policy in the area falls behind in terms of constructive engagement, consistent with the ethos of the region. There is an urgent need for the EU to revise its strategy and relevance in South Asia which is bound to have twin benefits- enhancing the economic benefits of the Union concerning the region as well as augmenting the security of the European continent.
The EU has been an extensive development aid partner to many South Asian countries but its contribution towards institution building in individual countries, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Maldives, remains low along with their promotion of human rights in a country like Sri Lanka. Pakistan has been seen to systematize several security threats as mentioned in the European Union’s Security Strategy of 2003. These majorly include organised crime, terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts as well as state failure. However, given the magnitude of the threat, the EU’s stabilization efforts in Pakistan have been disjointed and exhibit only partial advancement. EU as a security actor is an ardent promoter of norms, values and democracy and thus, needs to augment its role to promote good governance and the rule of law.
Further, the EU encourages regional integration through its support for the multilateral SAARC, in which it also holds observer status. According to the European Commission, the Union seeks to “consolidate the ongoing integration process in South Asia through its economic influence in the region, its own historical experience of economic and trade integration and of dealing with diversity”. However, in practice, the Union has majorly focused only upon trade and commerce, intending to promote harmonisation of standards in trade and eventually promote business with the region. The EU needs to shed light on the mechanisms of institution building in SAARC, as the region is charactarized with polarising tendencies that emanate from India’s hegemonic position, lack of principles of subsidiarity and the primacy of individual sovereignty of member countries, over regional identity. On the contrary, the EU has been lauded for being a successful integration project over the last two decades and as a supranational normative power, it is a key role of the Union to upskill South Asia and allow its integration model to be emulated by the same.
With the strike of COVID-19, international relations among players are being altered to an extent never imagined before. South Asia, is one of the most populous locations of the world, has been a burning hotspot for the Coronavirus pandemic. The European Union can utilise this outbreak as an opportunity to metamorphosize its transcontinental presence in South Asia by valuably assisting the drive to the region’s recovery from economic shock. At a time when China as well as the US are unable to provide valuable leadership, the EU can step up its role as a functional leader as well as developer of the South Asian region. The Union will have to abandon its ‘one-template-fits-all’ approach amongst South Asian countries and conduct a needs-based assessment to address the evolving needs of the region.
To conclude, South Asia as a region is characterized by massively high economic growth rates and emerging markets, while at the same time proving to be at the center of global security concerns. The European Union’s presence in the region needs to go beyond the traditional trade and development aid assistance model to factor-in the evolving political and strategic realities of South Asia. There is a compelling exigency to recalibrate its regional strategy in South Asia to establish a coordinated response to global issues that require emergent action – such as climate change, counter-terrorism, maritime security, renewable energy, energy security and cross-border resource sharing. The EU needs to reinforce a holistic push towards the strategic significance of South Asia to a level, which other leading global players such as the US and China may not be able to match.
