The European Union (EU) and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council will hold the first joint summit on Wednesday, in Brussels, to address conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, and improve trade partnerships. The Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, will participate in the meeting.
The summit was organized with the purpose of “developing a closer partnership” with the countries that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait), which are classified as “geostrategic partners ” in “challenging geopolitical circumstances”, according to a released statement.
The meeting will be dominated by conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. The Gulf Cooperation Council countries have a greater sphere of influence than the EU in the Middle East, notably in Iran and Lebanon.
A European source considered that it will be possible to find a joint statement from the two political-economic blocs on the conflict in that region, as “everyone wants a ceasefire”.
The conflict in the Middle East worsened a year ago with the Israeli invasion of the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip, following an attack perpetrated by the radical Hamas movement, which operates in that territory. The involvement of Hezbollah, a militia group supported by Tehran and operating in Lebanon, led to an Israeli invasion of Lebanese territory.
Israel’s incursions are being widely criticized by most of the international community, which accuses Tel Aviv of disproportionate military intervention and without any concern for civilians (there are tens of thousands of deaths in Gaza due to Israeli bombings).
The war in Ukraine, which began in 2014 but worsened in February 2022, will also be discussed, but here a joint position could be more complicated. The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council “have their own relations with Russia, which are not exactly the same as those of the EU”, acknowledged the same source.
Countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have a more favorable position towards Russia and have not stopped trading with Moscow, despite appeals made by countries in the European Union and the United States of America.
