The News
The European Union is holding its first ever summit with Gulf states on Wednesday, as leaders seek to improve coordination on trade, energy, and security.
The conflict in the Middle East is on the top of the agenda, but the war in Ukraine, trade, energy, and climate change will also be discussed.
While expectations are low in terms of concrete outcomes, the Gulf Cooperation Council is reportedly seeking visa liberalization, making it easier for its citizens to live or visit Europe.
European countries are hoping to push the Gulf states, which have maintained good relations with Moscow, to agree to a tougher line on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
SIGNALS
Expectations are low for summit
Little more than “vague pleasantries and air miles” are set to come out of Wednesday’s meeting, the Financial Times said, given the EU’s and Gulf states’ strong differences of opinion on the conflict in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine. While the EU is aiming for a joint statement asking all countries to stop material support for Russia, Gulf states have countered with a proposal calling for a halt to all weapons deliveries that are fueling the Ukraine conflict, Politico reported. The Gulf is also skeptical of an EU push to jointly agree to reducing sanctions evasion, something Western allies have said the UAE has helped Russia do.
EU and Gulf states seek closer economic ties
Even if major policy shifts are unlikely to emerge from the summit, it could provide a springboard for injecting new energy into the Gulf-EU relationship, according to an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Both sides are eager for closer trade relations, but the EU is aiming for human rights regulations and environmental standards that key Gulf states oppose, the researcher said. The EU also hopes to expand its energy cooperation with the Gulf, as it seeks to recover from a sharp reduction in Russian oil and gas imports, although the bloc “is no longer a priority market for energy exporters,” one expert wrote for the Italian Institute for International Political Studies.
Human rights groups criticize invite for Saudi crown prince
Human rights organizations have condemned the EU’s invitation to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who for years was ostracized from Western conferences after the 2018 killing of Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi. An associate director at Human Rights Watch told The Guardian that the summit “risks helping him whitewash his image,” arguing that under his leadership, “repression in contemporary Saudi Arabia has never been so strong.” When asked if there were concerns within the bloc about the invitation, an EU official told the oulet that “the question you raised is not raised here.” The prince’s rehabilitation has been underway since 2022, when US President Joe Biden, who previously called Saudi Arabia a “pariah,” greeted the Saudi leader with a fist bump.