The Titan Handshake: Unpacking the Historic EU-India "Mother of All Deals"
Mother of all deals: EU and India sign free trade agreement It has been three days since the pens were set down in New Delhi, but the ink on the political declaration signed on January 27, 2026, is already reshaping global economic forecasts. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen didn't mince words when she called it the "mother of all deals." For nearly two decades, a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union and India seemed like a geopolitical mirage—always visible on the horizon, but dissolving upon closer inspection. Negotiations began in 2007, collapsed in 2013, and lay dormant until their revival in the post-pandemic world. Now, it’s real. While we await the final "legal scrubbing" and formal ratification later this year, the conclusion of negotiations marks a seismic shift. We are witnessing the economic marriage of two of the world’s largest democracies, creating a free trade zone encompassing nearly two billion people. But be...