Mission

Youth Leading, EU-India Thriving

The European Union (EU) and India, two of the world’s largest democracies, share a robust and multifaceted relationship that spans over six decades. This partnership, rooted in shared values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, has evolved to encompass a wide array of sectors including trade, technology, climate change, and security. Economically, the EU was in 2023 India’s largest trading partner with goods trade accounting for €124 billion, and was India’s largest foreign investor with investment stock worth €108.3 billion. The EU also ranks as the second-largest destination for Indian exports (17.5% of total), and remarkably, trade in goods between these two blocs has surged by approximately 90% over the past decade. Today, around 6,000 European companies operate in India, creating roughly 1.7 million direct jobs and an additional 5 million indirect jobs. Migration, particularly amongst the youth of both blocs for education, skilled work, business, or quality of life, further strengthens this connection.

As relations between the EU and India become ever more prevalent in a wide array of policy areas, upgrading, connecting, and mainstreaming knowledge on this bilateral relationship has become a necessity for policymakers, stakeholders, and civil society at large to better navigate strategic opportunities and challenges with foresight.In an increasingly interconnected world, the relationship between the EU and India stands as a cornerstone of global stability and progress. As Generation EU-India (GenEI), we believe that the youth have a pivotal role to play in shaping the future of EU-India relations. Our mission is to empower young Europeans and Indians, giving them a voice and space to enhance mutual understanding between both sides, and shape the landscape of bilateral and multilateral relations. Our vision is for a robust, dynamic, and forward-looking EU-India partnership driven by informed, engaged, and empowered youth, fostering mutual understanding and collaboration across all dimensions of our relations.

With that in mind, our purpose is to be a network connecting young European and Indian people, providing them a platform to voice their perspectives and influence the policymaking process in EU-India relations, while upgrading knowledge and understanding of each other’s interests, ambitions, and challenges. Thus, fostering deeper understanding and cooperation between the EU and India through youth engagement and empowerment is what guides us.

Our mission is to empower young Europeans and Indians, giving them a voice and space to enhance mutual understanding between both sides, and shape the landscape of bilateral and multilateral relations.

Taking this partnership to the next level requires the creation of more channels of engagement, and GenEI is posed to be one such channel.

Three pillars form the foundation of GenEI and drive its activities:

Pillar I: Upgrading Knowledge and Understanding of India in Europe and of Europe in India.

We acknowledge the existing gap in awareness and understanding between India and the EU. This gap in knowledge often hinders the potential for deeper cooperation and collaboration. In response, we intend to contribute by highlighting the role of Indian and European youth.

We are committed to removing barriers to understanding, and encouraging deeper cooperation through youth engagement and empowerment. Central to this is the practice of active listening, ensuring that all voices are heard and valued in our dialogues, even dissenting voices.

Pillar II: Empowering the Youth in the Context of EU-India Relations. 

Our aim is to create a platform and opportunities for young Europeans and Indians to share their perspectives and actively contribute to shaping EU-India relations.

In the ‘EU-India ecosystem’—comprising public and private organizations focused on EU-India relations— there is a critical gap in platforms that specifically empower youth to engage meaningfully in shaping EU-India relations. In this sense, the voices of young leaders, professionals, and innovators—the very individuals who will inherit and shape this relationship in the coming decades—are often underrepresented in formal policy-making processes. This leads us to our third pillar.

Pillar III: Influencing and Contributing to the Policymaking Process of EU-India Relations.

Our goal is to influence the EU-India policymaking process by incorporating well-informed perspectives and policy recommendations from young people for a more inclusive, innovative, and future-oriented partnership between the EU and India.

Our horizontal thematic priorities are focused on several key areas: EU-India relations, including security and defense, trade, technology, connectivity, climate change, and gender equality; Indo-Pacific cooperation; and the dynamics of US-China competition and the respective roles of the EU and India.