“If there are Indians without appropriate documents,” said Kumar, “I think our Minister of Foreign Affairs has already mentioned that once the nationality established … we will bring these people back.”
And it is music to the ears of European politicians who want to pursue controlled migrations with visas issued by the embassy, while responding to the demand for work in an aging continent.
According to Sita Sharma, an independent consultant working as principal advisor to the Ministry of Skills and Entrepreneurship of the Government of India, currently more than 600 million people in the country are between 18 and 35 years old. Compared, the median age in Germany is 45 years, with around 14 million in this age group.
The agreement between Berlin and New Delhi allows “young Indians qualified to acquire professional experience, study, start vocational training or work in Germany”, noted Sharma, mentioning that the agreement also proposes “bilateral investment agreements between the German Federal Employment Agency and the Indian State or the national level, in particular in health care, hospitality, mechanics and electrical work”. However, she highlighted Germany’s weak ambition, with only an “exchange of 3,000 workers per year” so far.
But now, as the work to finalize the FTA is intensifying, Brussels and New Delhi are in mood to make concessions.
It seems that India can finally have a stomach to reduce prices – up to 100% or more on cars, wine and whiskey – while some in Europe have been sympathetic concerning the constraints of India concerning the opening of its agricultural sector to European imports.
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