The European Union (EU) has proposed a new strategic program with India which increases bilateral relations to a higher level in the middle of the United States to strike India with massive prices.

In July, the EU sanctioned an Indian refinery which refined Russian crude, Make sure that he cannot sell to Europe. Since then, US President Donald Trump has imposed prices of 50% on India, half of it as a punishment for the purchase of Russian fuel.

But while the EU and the United States align their policies against Russia on secondary sanctions for its war in Ukraine, the Trump would have called for the block to impose up to 100% prices on India.

However, the EU seems to have adopted a different approach in its New strategic program: attract India far from the orbit of influence of Russia thanks to a commercial agreement and improved strategic links.

"It is now time to focus on reliable partners and double the partnerships anchored in common interests and guided by common values," said the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

"With our new EU-India strategy, we put our relationship to the next level."

Kaja Kallas, the first EU diplomat, recognized that the block has "clear areas of disagreement" in reference to the purchase of Russian oil and the participation of India in the military exercises of Zapad led by Russia in Bélarus.

But it added "turbulent time", perhaps alluding to stress in EU's own relations with the United States, the block needs partnerships.

"Deepening links with India, not really pushing them in the corner of Russia," she said, was agreed in conversations between senior EU officials.

An EU official said there may be advantages to a better relationship with India.

India is a "moderating voice", said the officer, who does not subscribe to the anti-Western agenda in the forums, such as the BRICS and the Shanghai cooperation organization led by China (SCO), where New Delhi has a seat but the EU is missing.

"India has tried to be useful, talk to [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, inviting Zelenskyy to [New] Delhi. So there is a scope for a conversation, "he added.

Garima Mohan, principal researcher based in Brussels at German Marshall Fund (GMF), said that the new strategic program is much more ambitious and which "does" the simple to besides India as an important partner, a counterweight to China ".

The document lists closer cooperation in Indo-Pacific and emphasizes the role of India in the diversification of supply chains, a veiled reference to the EU's desire to move away from dependencies with regard to China.

A key element of the strategic program is to promote industrial defense cooperation.

The EU considers India, the largest importer of weapons in the world, such as a huge market for European defense manufacturers and a country that seeks to reduce dependence on Russia and to diversify its imports. India hopes to modernize its navy and the air forces and affected more than $ 70 billion ($ 83 billion) for the defense for 2025-2026.

"I think that if you are in India and you look at how Russian weapons occur in Ukraine, you would naturally want to diversify," said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a principal researcher in Bruegel, a group of reflection based in Brussels.

"While Europe is realized, Europe and Ukraine will become great arms producers and will be a natural option for India" to buy weapons, he said.

Mohan, the GMF researcher, argued that Europe can also buy more in India, which aims to sell at least 5 billion defense exports by 2029.

"While Europe is investing in its industrial defense complex and improves its capacities, it would still need to obtain equipment from trust partners," she told DW. "There is simply not enough to buy the shelves in Europe."

Mohan was relieved that, despite India's decision to dispatch a team of soldiers from participating in Zapad's military exercises led by Russia in Bélarus, the momentum in the links had not been disrupted.

"Zapad was not a good planning from India," she said. "I think it was a bump on the road, and it strengthens the voices of those who may say that the EU should not do more with India."

"But this is a good thing that the press release (on improving strategic links) was released and things are in motion," she said.

During a recent telephone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni praised the "excellent" relations and jumped any mention of the American request to impose higher sanctions or prices.

Instead, Europeans consider India as a partner also interested in preserving a global commercial order based on rules.

During a visit to New Delhi earlier this month, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Johann Wadephul, said that some countries erected commercial barriers, India and Germany should lower them.

Germany has decided to double its commercial volume with India, and the Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jaishankar, said that India nicknamed the support of Germany to the EU-India Free Trade Agreement (ALE).

French President Emmanuel Macron discussed Ukraine with the Indian Prime Minister by telephone and updated it on Europe security guarantees provides for Ukraine.

"India and France share the same determination to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine," he posted on X.

Experts have said that if India and the EU may or may not take up all the differences by the end of the year, as provided for in Modi and Von der Leyen, there is no doubt that the EU-India ties are on an ascending trajectory.

"But next to it, there should be a political agreement in a way that the Russian oil purchases from India will be on a downward trajectory," added Kirkegaard.