Sweden will come to the Rescue
The Swedish Prime Minster Fredrik Reinfeldt said today that the European Union and India are not ready to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) anytime soon (Sweden holds the EU Presidency). He indicated that the EU and India should have more talks to bridge differences on climate change and social issues before an FTA is signed. The EU wants concessions from India on environmental and other social issues like child labor before they are ready to sign a Free Trade Agreement.
The European Union is one of India’s biggest trading partners. The EU-India FTA might improve the trade between these two entities to over $225 billion by 2015. A couple of thoughts crossed my mind as I was reading the interview given by Fredrik Reinfeldt. First of all Europeans of all people should have a good understanding on the complex issues facing countries like India because of hundreds of years of shared history. It is not easy for India (or for that matter China or any other developing country) to have the same set of employment, environmental or other standards that the West expects of us. In many cases we cannot ever have the same standards because of social and cultural issues.
This is not just a difference between India and the EU but also between EU and the United States of America as well. The rights and privileges enjoyed by an average American worker are far less than that of an average worker in the EU. American companies can layoff employees in the thousands overnight which not easy to do in the EU. America is very comfortable with millions of illegal immigrants doing jobs that most Americans do not want to do anymore (obviously these illegal immigrants get no employment based benefits like healthcare, unemployment etc.). The EU on the other hand has built strong walls (figuratively speaking) to prevent immigrants from entering the continent.
Secondly I cannot understand why discussions on a FTA should also involve issues like climate change and other social issues. An FTA should be about trade and trade only. There are many platforms available in the world today to address issues like child labor and climate change. When other controversial issues are tagged on then we have to question the motivation behind it. By and large the EU might not be in favor of any major trade agreements beyond certain limits with countries like India for fear of getting dominated (as is the case between the United States and China). Although they are very familiar with Asia (there are many European companies that are in India for more than 100 years) the Europeans by and large are very conservative and are not leaders when it comes to forging new trade alliances. On the other hand the United States has captured the Indian imagination by doing everything they can to improve relationship with India across the board. This broadening engagement between the two countries is directly responsible for the growth in the Indian economy that has in turn resulted in millions of people coming out of poverty in the Indian sub-continent.
I also feel that the Swedish Prime Minister and the EU are also trying to make a moral statement which I am not sure they are qualified to make. Are the Europeans including the Swedish really concerned about social issues like child labor and about climate change? If so how far are they willing to go to solve these serious issues? India (a country of 1.1 billion human beings) is responsible for 5.3% of total CO2 emissions. The European Union (500 million people) is responsible for 13.8% of total CO2 emissions? The annual per capita CO2 emission of a Swedish citizen is 4.5 times that of an Indian citizen. So is Sweden or any other member of the European Union remotely qualified to talk down to India on climate change issues?
Most of the West did not care one bit about environmental issues as they industrialized and became the economic powers that they are today. The Europeans went to every nook and corner of the world and laid claim to any and all resources they can get. For reasons unknown climate change has now gone to the top of the agenda as the economies of India and China are beginning to flex their muscles. Although climate change is a legitimate issue the strict emission standards that India and China are asked to comply with is nothing but a strategy by the West to slow down the GDP growth rate of both India and China. Obviously both these countries should not agree to any cap on CO2 emissions that will have an impact on the economic growth rate. The welfare of the millions of the poor people who live in these countries is much more important than the concerns of some who live in rich countries.
The real discussion to have today is not what to do to prevent further global warming. We should be mature enough to know that we can at best hope to reduce the rate of increase of earth’s surface temperature but we human beings absolutely cannot stop it. The real issue is what to do when the glaciers and snow capped mountains melt. Many people who live along the coast will have to move inland. It is estimated that 20% of Bangladesh will go underwater displacing about 100 million people. Wait. Do not panick. Fortunately many of the uninhabitable land areas that is currently covered by snow in places like Sweden will be available for resettlement. Maybe some of the poor Indians, Bangladeshis or Chinese can immigrate to these new found lands in Sweden since they care so much about eliminating child labor, alleviating poverty and other social issues!! You will help us out. Won’t you Sweden?
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