New Delhi, April 11 2025 (ANI): External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar gave reality Check to Europe and explained what does the Union misunderstands about India. He said, “There are gaps. I mean, I am not being diplomatic about it. I mean, often we tend to see a degree of judgmentalism based on Europe's own situation. And so to the extent Europe has had the good fortune of having a certain strategic comfort for multiple decades. For a continent we saw so much violence and bloodshed, then you have really 78 years since there have been some issues. What's happening right now in Ukraine is another. But by and large, Europe has enjoyed a period of peace, prosperity, stability, security and complacency, which came out so now, Europe is compelled by global developments to perhaps conceptualize its own interest. So whether it is on an issue like terrorism, whether it is even on matters like, territorial integrity and sanctity of borders, we have not always had the kind of understanding and support that we expected after Europe. I think today, the strategic reawakening of Europe has created the basis for much more serious conversations on many more subjects, especially matters relating to security and strategy, and also the economics.”
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00:00What does Europe misunderstand about India?
00:03There are gaps. I mean, I'm not being diplomatic about it.
00:07Europe has had the good fortune of having a certain strategic comfort.
00:15Now, Europe is compelled by global developments.
00:21Some of our debates is, you know, a region which is very secure,
00:26or finds it very hard to understand another, which is going through very difficult challenges.
00:33I'd like to ask you, what does Europe misunderstand about India?
00:38What does Europe misunderstand about India?
00:41What does Europe misunderstand about India?
00:46Look, I'm not sure I would use that word.
00:50There are gaps. I mean, I'm not being diplomatic about it.
00:56I mean, often we tend to see a degree of judgmentalism based on Europe's own situation.
01:06And so, to the extent Europe, look, you know, Europe has had the good fortune
01:13of having a certain strategic comfort for multiple decades.
01:21You know, for a continent which saw so much violence and bloodshed,
01:26then you've had really 70, 80 years.
01:28Yes, there have been some issues.
01:30Yugoslavia was one.
01:33I mean, what's happening right now in Ukraine is another.
01:35But by and large, Europe has enjoyed a period of peace, prosperity, stability, security,
01:41and complacency, which came out of it.
01:44So, now Europe is compelled by global developments to perhaps conceptualize its own interests more sharply
01:58and then see how it can secure that optimally.
02:02So, some of our debates is, you know, a region which is very secure finds it very hard to understand another
02:12which is going through very difficult challenges.
02:16So, whether it is on an issue like terrorism, whether it is even on matters like, you know, territorial,
02:25I would say, integrity and sanctity of borders,
02:31we have not always had the kind of understanding and support that we expected out of Europe.
02:37So, I think today the strategic reawakening of Europe has created the basis for much more serious conversations
02:49on many more subjects, especially matters relating to security and strategy.
02:55And also, the economics, and I would say the demographics, are bringing us together.
03:01That when I look, for example, at a country like Germany, when Chancellor Schulz was here in October,
03:10a lot of our conversations with him and his team actually revolved around, you know,
03:16skilled movement, mobility of skilled talent to support German industry and German tech.
03:25So, there are strong convergences.
03:28I think those convergences will grow with the passage of time.
03:33And certainly, when we speak of a multipolar world,
03:37for us, it is very important that Europe is a pole and thinks of itself as a pole.
03:43So, for that reason, I am actually somewhat optimistic of the turn of events.