Filling the GCC-EU Strategic Partnership with Meaning: Understanding Ends, Means, and Paths Forward

This workshop is co-sponsored with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

Workshop Concept:

This workshop aims to study how the EU–GCC Strategic Partnership can move beyond declarations towards meaningful deliverables by examining the institutional, political, and cultural settings, capacities, and expectations on both sides. It seeks to generate policy-oriented recommendations that can bridge European and Gulf perspectives and provide concrete pathways to strengthen cooperation ahead of the 2026 Riyadh summit.

The launch of the GCC-EU Strategic Partnership in 2022 introduced a visible concept and common vocabulary to organise relations between these two blocs. Since then, a multitude of convenings, conferences, and summits from Track II through to the ministerial and heads-of-state level have offered platforms for exchange between representatives and citizens of the European Union (EU), Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and their respective member-states. While these gatherings indicate the development of a bilateral intergovernmentalism of the sort that Ulrich and Krotz (2013) argue forms the bedrock of the Franco-German partnership at the heart of Europe, little by way of groundbreaking agreements promoting deeper integration has thus far accompanied these steps. For instance, the EU and GCC have yet to agree on a free-trade deal or even full visa-liberalisation regime between the blocs. On both sides, this lack of progress on the “big-ticket files” produces considerable disappointment and finger-pointing. Meanwhile, incremental accomplishments either go unnoticed or are deemed insufficient, fuelling a persistent sense of misunderstanding and missed opportunity.

The EU–GCC Strategic Partnership remains, in many respects, an ambitious framework in search of substance. While the joint communication of 2022 provided a strong declaratory basis for cooperation and the 2024 summit reiterated shared intentions, the partnership still suffers from the absence of clearly defined deliverables. For Europe, the partnership is often seen through the lens of normative diplomacy and the EU’s tendency to frame external relations in terms of values and rules-based engagement. For the GCC states, by contrast, partnerships are frequently assessed in pragmatic and transactional terms, privileging state sovereignty, regime security, and material gains. This divergence creates recurring friction in negotiations, such as on human rights clauses in trade deals or on energy transition strategies where timelines and financial responsibilities are contested.

Another underexplored dimension is the asymmetry in institutional capacity. The EU possesses a well-developed bureaucratic machinery for external action, encompassing the European External Action Service, the Commission, and rotating presidencies. The GCC Secretariat, in contrast, remains a comparatively lean organization with limited supranational authority, often leaving decision-making firmly in the hands of member states. This imbalance complicates bloc-to-bloc relations, as EU officials seek institutionalised mechanisms while their Gulf counterparts prioritise leader-to-leader diplomacy and flexible coalitions.

Moreover, the geopolitical environment surrounding EU–GCC relations is shifting rapidly. The war in Ukraine, heightened energy insecurity, and the acceleration of global multipolarity have rendered the Gulf more strategically important for Europe, both as an energy supplier and as a geopolitical partner. Simultaneously, the GCC states are diversifying their international portfolios, doubling-down on their already close relationship with the Trump administration in the United States while strengthening ties with China, India, and Russia, thereby reducing the relative weight of European engagement. If the EU–GCC framework is to retain relevance, it must evolve beyond declaratory diplomacy into concrete cooperation projects that demonstrate mutual benefit.

Equally important are people-to-people linkages. The partnership has been dominated by elite-level exchanges, but societal connections remain underdeveloped. Initiatives that foster academic collaboration, cultural diplomacy, youth exchange, and business-to-business connectivity could provide the “glue” that sustains the partnership when political negotiations stall. Investing in such areas would also mitigate the recurring perception of missed opportunities by generating tangible benefits that resonate beyond the policy community.

Ultimately, the challenge for both blocs is to reconcile ambition with feasibility, normative approaches with pragmatism, and strive for compromise and institutional strengthening. By interrogating these dynamics, this workshop seeks to move the debate toward constructive proposals that fill the partnership with genuine meaning. Ahead of the second summit between EU and GCC heads of state and government in 2026 in Riyadh, the workshop will probe the sources of the sentiment of unrealised potential, with a view toward identifying, analysing, and bridging European and Gulf perspectives toward, and understandings of, strategic partnerships in general and the EU-GCC Strategic Partnership in particular. In so doing, the workshop aims to make an intellectual and policy-oriented contribution to discussions that will occur at the summit in Riyadh.

Accordingly, workshop participants will produce policy reports/short essays of 2,500-4,000 words in length, as opposed to academic papers. These reports will be published after the workshop in the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Regional Programme Gulf States’ Policy Reports series.

The workshop organisers encourage the submission of abstracts aligned with the following themes:

1. Understanding different approaches to international relations. This theme compares the positioning of the EU, GCC, and their respective member-states in international relations, focusing especially on the (in)significance of alliances, diversification of relationships across countries and blocs, and pursuit of policies of multi-alignment or strategic autonomy. In addition, contributions examining the role of states versus supranational institutions in foreign policy-making in the EU and GCC are welcomed.
2. Understanding strategic partnership. Using case studies, contributions under this theme examine strategic partnerships of the EU, GCC, or their respective member-states with other regions of the world, with a view toward uncovering what this term means in different contexts and for different protagonists.
3. Appraising the EU-GCC Strategic Partnership. Using the 2022 joint communication on “A strategic partnership with the Gulf”, the joint statement from the 2024 summit, and/or other elements of the official discourse around the EU-GCC strategic partnership as a guide, contributions under this theme measure progress in different files and policy areas of the partnership. In addition to examining which fields of the partnership have (not) experienced progress, and why, contributions can also analyse and appraise the institutional setup of EU-GCC relations. Authors are welcome to propose policy recommendations in their contributions.
4. Progressing on Big-Ticket Items. Taking the stalled free-trade agreement, visa liberalisation, or another major project of EU-GCC relations as a case study, contributions under this theme examine why or why not progress has been made on these big-ticket items. Policy recommendations are encouraged.
5. Reconciling Ambition with Reality. This theme overlaps with the first four areas of focus and gives authors the opportunity to appraise the hopes and ambitions associated with the strategic partnership, as expressed in official statements, media publications, interviews, and other relevant sources. To what extent do these ambitions align with current and anticipated progress on the ground? In addition, contributions can reflect and make recommendations on the following questions: Which files should be pursued under the framework of the strategic partnership, and which should be avoided? In which files should the EU and/or GCC increase/decrease their ambition? What practical steps at the national, sub-national, or people-to-people level can be taken to advance EU-GCC relations when bloc-to-bloc progress stalls?
6. Energy Transition and Climate Cooperation: Assessing opportunities and tensions in EU–GCC collaboration on renewable energy, hydrogen, and carbon markets.
7. Security and Regional Stability: Evaluating the role of the EU in Gulf security architecture and possibilities for coordination on maritime security, counterterrorism, and conflict mediation.
8. Technology and Digital Governance: Exploring cooperation on digital transformation, AI regulation, and cybersecurity as new pillars of strategic partnership.
9. Societal and Cultural Connectivity: Identifying ways to expand academic, youth, and civil-society exchanges as bottom-up drivers of EU–GCC engagement.