As Europe faces an identity crisis, what it can learn from India

The European Union is currently undergoing a significant shift wherein power seems to be consolidating to regions different from where it has historically been held. Much of Europe is also experiencing divergence of views from the United States on many core global issues—making the US-EU alliance more vulnerable than it has been in the past many decades. To further complicate this already complex circumstance is the fact that Europe’s open borders policy to rehabilitate Muslim immigrants from the war-torn Middle East and parts of Africa into their own member countries seems to have severely backfired, making a lasting negative impact on the minds of original European inhabitants.

Western Europe, for many decades, has dominated not only the geopolitical power structure of the continent but also economic growth. However, there is currently a tectonic shift taking place where both power as well as trade seems to be moving from Western Europe eastwards to the central and eastern parts of the continent. In fact, the economic rate of growth of Central and Eastern Europe is higher than it is for Western Europe in 2025.

This shift is so significant that many Central and Eastern European nations have now been frequently stating that the world is currently witnessing the dawn of the Eurasian Era, where countries around the juncture of both continents are increasingly seeing the benefits of greater European and Asian collaboration. In fact, the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated in a recent Eurasian Summit that since there are no geographical boundaries between Europe and Asia, a relationship between Central and Eastern Europe with Asia is more natural than the relationship of the former with the West.

By 2030, Asia is projected to have surpassed North America and Europe in terms of how much global power is wielded, which is calculated based on GDP, population size, military spending, and technological investment. China and India are at the crux of this shift—with one significant difference: one is an expansionist power, and the other is an inclusive one. Owing to the global power shift to the East of the world, many European countries have chosen to realign their priorities by recognising the need to engage with these new emerging Eastern power centres. Some of these nations also believe and have so stated that after the Cold War, the Western elite deliberately chose not to restore the organic Eurasian relationship but instead made aggressive efforts to Westernise the whole world.

Original inhabitants of these European nations have now grown extremely uncomfortable with forced, inorganic Westernisation blatantly pushed by ‘neo-liberal’, left-leaning leaders. This is evidenced by the decisive electoral victories of ideologically ‘right-leaning’ leaders in many European nations—Meloni in Italy, Le Pen in France, Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Viktor Orban in Hungary, and many others. Europe also now realises that many of its member states are increasingly facing the impact of poor integration of migrants into their societies and are seeking solutions to repatriate them. Many European societies have also awakened to the slow death of their rich religious and cultural history in exchange for gender neutrality, excessive social media exposure, and motivated pop culture, who are now also seeking a return to a state of normalcy where family values are given primacy.

To add to this mix is the United States’ involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as the Israel-Hamas-Hezbollah wars. Contrary to the US’ all-out support for Israel, many European nations continue to view Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as a war criminal due to the atrocities against the Palestinian people. As for the war in Ukraine, while the US under the Biden administration continues to send sophisticated weapons and billions after billions to Ukraine, several European nations have discontinued providing weapons to Ukraine as well as capped their defence spending to 2 per cent—with a strong push for an immediate ceasefire and reasonable peace deal.

As more and more European leaders who push for peace, restoration of Europe’s history and culture, and family-centric policies ungroup themselves from the United States on increasing issues and get elected by the people, Europe experiences an amplified need to engage with Asia. Many European nations that have overexposed themselves to China in the past decade feel the need to counterbalance this overexposure by significantly increasing engagement with India.

India, like Europe, carries a cultural and civilisational legacy, also represents the Global South, is a non-expansionist power, and remains the fastest-growing large economy in the world. All these attributes make India a very reliable and attractive partner to a Europe that is trying to find its feet after realising that it simply cannot integrate and fall behind all agendas pushed by the United States blindly.

India stands to benefit with Europe’s watchful eye on its hostile neighbourhood, where several major world powers seek to create a sphere of influence by running tacit campaigns against India. The democratic India-Middle East-Europe corridor also provides a fast-tracked option to exchange goods, which will eventually lead to greater economic growth for both authorities and effectively counter China’s aggressive Belt and Road Initiative.

Convergence on international multilateral forums to strategise policies that have the potential to have far-reaching impact on both powers—while simultaneously being able to tame hostile powers—has the potential to influence how the world is reordered. Conclusively, the trade-off is clear—while engagement with India can derisk Europe as it begins degrees of separation from the United States and Chinese overexposure, Europe can return the favour by aligning with India on key global issues on multilateral platforms.

Priyam Gandhi-Mody is an author and political communications expert. She has written four best-selling books. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.