Perception of the EU in India: A ‘Europe House’ Is Missing in European Public Diplomacy

While the EU has given priority to its relations with India and crafted its first ever strategy towards the country in 2018 amid growing tensions with China, Russia and the US, one traditional irritant may still stand in the way of a stronger EU-India Strategic Partnership: Misperception and low visibility of the Union. This situation calls for more resources and innovative ideas for robust EU public diplomacy and cultural cooperation with Indian partners. This chapter reviews the problem of how the EU is perceived in India, examines existing tools of public diplomacy and suggests a new one: The establishment of a ‘Europe House’ in New Delhi. This kind of pan-European culture and information centre would boost the EU image as one political and civilisational actor and as a reliable partner for India. This is a pressing need, especially as the global perception of the EU has suffered a serious blow in recent years.