Rendes ülések

Meetings of 18 October and 14 December 2023

Informal meetings dedicated to the preparations for DARP Delegation mission to Saudia Arabia and Yemen respectively.

Meeting of 6 July 2023

Meeting dedicated to an exchange of views on the situation in Yemen, with

  • Ambassador Hans GRUNDBERG, UN Special Envoy for Yemen
  • Ambassador Gabriel MUNUERA VIŇALS, EU Ambassador to Yemen
  • Mr Patrice LENORMAND, head of the Unit North Africa, Iraq and Arabian Peninsula at ECHO

Meeting of 4 May 2023

Meeting dedicated to the election of a new Second Vice-Chair and an exchange of views with

  • H.E. Rua Issa Ashraf ALZADJALI, Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman to Belgium and the European Union, and
  • Ms Anna Maria PANAGIOTAKOPOULOU, head of the Mena IV Division at the European External Action Service.

Meeting in association with the DROI Subcommittee on 14 November 2022

A meeting of the Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula in association with the DROI Subcommittee took place on 14 November 2022. The meeting was dedicated to the World sport events and human rights in the context of the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

Delegation meeting of 20 October 2022

The meeting of the Delegation for Relations with the Arab Peninsula took place jointly with the Delegation for Relations with Iran on Thursday 20 October 2022 in Strasbourg.

The meeting was dedicated to an exchange of views on relations between the Arab Peninsula countries and Iran from a regional perspective, in the presence of:

· Dr Cornelius Adebahr, Non-resident fellow, Carnegie Europe

· Dr Yasmine Farouk, Non-resident scholar, Middle East program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

· Ms Anna-Maria Panagiotakopoulou, Head of Division, Arabian Peninsula and Iraq, European External Action Service

Meeting of 30 June 2022

The meeting included an exchange of views on higher education in the Gulf and cooperation between the EU and GCC on related matters with

• HE Dr. Khalid Al-Ali, Acting Undersecretary for higher education, Director of higher education institutional affairs ministry of education and higher education in Qatar,

• Dr. Hamad Aladwani, Director General of National Bureau for Academic Accreditation and Education Quality Assurance (Kuwait),

• Mr Abdulaziz Abdullah Alghyamamh, Director of General Administration for Higher Education will be the representative from the Saudi Ministry of Education, and

• Prof. Dr. Mohamed Yousif Baniyas, Director, Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA), Ministry of Education of the United Arab Emirates.

    Joint meeting with AFET on 12 May 2022

    During the meeting on 12 May, Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee held a very interesting exchange of views with H.E. Ms Fawzia Abdulla Yusuf Zainal, Speaker of the Council of Representatives of Bahrain.
    The meeting took place form 10h00 till 11h00.

    See below recording of the morning meeting (09h00-11h50).

    Informal remote meeting on the situation in Ukraine - 31/03/2022

    The Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula held on Thursday, 31 March 2022 from 13.30 until 15.00 a very interesting exchange of views dedicated to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its impact on EU-GCC bilateral relations.

    The Chair, Hannah Neumann, noted that this meeting is part of a wider effort promoted by President Metsola to secure an appropriate debate between the European Parliament and its counterparts in the world, (thus not only in the Gulf region), on the effects and consequences of the present Russian invasion to Ukraine.


    Meeting on climate change and renewable energies in the GCC, 9 December 2021 (remote)

    Screenshot from the meeting DARP 09/12/2021

    The meeting started with a presentation by Dr Cinzia Bianco (European Council for Foreign Relations/expert on EU-GCC relations), followed by the full spectrum of elected representatives in the GCC: the Shura Council of Saudi Arabia, the Qatar Shura council, the Shura council of the UAE, Oman's Shura council, Bahrain Council of Representatives and the Kuwaiti ambassador to Brussels.

    Ms Silvia Crescimbeni, from the DG CLIMA of the European Commission, followed these speakers with a comprehensive overview of the actions taken by the EC in the region.

    The presentations were followed by a lively debate focusing on the EU-GCC relationship based on energy; a possible future unified GCC energy policy, the Carbon Pricing Mechanisms and on what could the EU do to facilitate the sustainable trade.

    Informal remote meeting on the situation on Yemen on 14 October 2021, at 11.00-13.00

    The Delegation for relations with the Arab countries held an informal meeting (remote, via Webex) on 14 October 2021 in which the main issues on the agenda were
    • the preparation of Inter-Parliamentary meetings (IPM) with Kuwait and Bahrain taking place in November 2021, with the participation of the Ambassadors of both countries in Brussels and
    • an exchange of views on the humanitarian situation in Yemen with Mr. Jean-Nicolas Beuze, UNHCR Representative for Yemen