LOC21:33
18:33 GMT
BRUSSELS, March 22 (KUNA) -- Speakers at a public hearing on the European Union strategic partnership with the Gulf hosted by the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday underlined the necessity and importance of this partnership for global peace and security.
Zeljana Zovko, vice chair of the Committee, in her introductory remarks said "today's topic is of outmost important for the EU."
"Strategic partnership between the EU and the Gulf region is a key and in our mutual benefit particularly when it comes to regional stability and global security," she said.
Zovko hoped that today's hearing held in hybrid format (remotely and physical presence) will provide analysis, ideas, and recommendations on the EU engagement in the region.
Three experts, Cinzia Bianco of the think tank European Council on Foreign Relations, Adnan Tabatabai, Co-founder and CEO of the Center for Applied Research in partnership with the Orient, and Christian Koch of the Gulf Research Centre presented their views and analysis on EU-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the consequences of the Ukraine crisis on those relations.
Speaking via video-link, Bianco highlighted that there are strategic reasons why Gulf-Europe relations are more important today than they were few years ago.
"These relations have not been easy. There have been ups and downs and there have been third parties heavily involved," said the Italian expert.
Bianco argued that the Europeans saw the US occupying a privileged position in the Gulf and hence Europe was following mostly Washington's policies.
"Now we are seeing a momentum on the relations to a large extent due to the fact that the position of one large third party is changing and that is of course the US," she said.
"We were in this momentum when the Russian invasion of Ukraine happened and this is very unfortunate because of all the repercussions and impacts on European relations to many other parties in the world including the Gulf," she said.
So the Gulf countries are diversifying their international partnerships and there is a turn in EU-GCC relations due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she argued.
"The key message that I want to deliver today is that we are in a momentum of Europe-Gulf relations," she stressed.
The joint communication currently being prepared by the European Commission explores all the different ways in details on how to make the EU a more relevant player in the Gulf region, said Bianco.
On his part, Tabatabai spoke on the geo-political dimension in the Gulf region focusing on the role of Iran and Iraq in the region.
"Iran is no longer viewing its neighboring countries in this region solely as an extension of the US, but Iran now looks at Saudi Arabia as an important neighboring country," he said.
In his presentation, Koch said for the Arab Gulf states, the policy objective "is really one of balance."
"There is uncertainty on the consequences of the Ukraine crisis," he said and noted that the Gulf Arab states believe that the present situation requires abandonment of "behind the scenes approach" to foreign policy and to shift to a more "activist and public role to steer the region to stability."
This will be more beneficial to EU-Gulf relations, he said.
There is uncertainty about the impending and ongoing energy transition given on the one hand the continued reliance on hydrocarbons for Gulf economies but also the increase readiness to invest in alternative energy.
He noted that all GCC countries have embarked on energy diversification.
"Recent increase in oil price have short term benefits but they also have long term consequences if not managed well," he cautioned.
Koch stressed that the GCC is a "functioning organization" and many of the past problems have been overcome.
On the situation in Yemen, he noted that in 2017-2018 Kuwait hosted prolonged talks with the Houthis but in the end of the day the Houthis walked away.
On the situation of Ukraine crisis, Koch said the GCC countries are not adopting the policy of "take the highest offer" but there is much more of a balancing policy.
"For sure there are realignments going on in the region and the GCC states have expanded their relationship with other powers because we are moving towards a multipolar world " he said.
By and large the Gulf countries want to keep the strategic alignment with the West. The US is till the most important security actor in the region and there is full acknowledgment in the region that Russia is no alternative to the US, he stated.
A number of Members of the European Parliament in their intervention spoke of their perspective on EU-GCC relations.
Hannah Neumann, chair of the EP' Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula, said that from her own travels to the Gulf region she realised "how they are looking at the EU as a model and that after wars and tensions you can live in peace."
She sked the experts on their views on the EU-GCC energy cooperation and on the EU-GCC strategic partnership.
"If we do not agree and work together on sanctions on Russia this will be very difficult for us to talks about strategic partnership," she stressed.
Antonio Lopez -Isturiz from Spain spoke about the important initiative taken by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to propose a joint communication on the strategic partnership with the GCC and called on the EU to build a strong partnership with the GCC.
Marc Tarabella of Belgium said the Russian invasion of Ukraine makes clear for closer relationship with the Gulf countries.
Javier Nart of Spain said "we have a lot of interest in Iran not getting nuclear weapons but no one talks about the nuclear reality in Israel. This shows that we apply different measures."
Nart said the so-called Abraham Accords is "a trade agreement basically which does not solve the Palestine question."
Eva Kaili of Greece questioned the role of China in the Gulf region.
She said that Kuwait, Oman and Qatar have asked for a Schengen visa wavier and added, "we have to act fast if we are exploring new possibilities of energy collaboration."
The 6-member GCC includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. (end)
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