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Maritime Security Cooperation Provides Opportunities to Concretely Enhance EU-GCC Relations

May 232013
 

Sharaka Research PapersSharaka Conceptual Paper nr.2

The GCC is fully aware of the potential threats to maritime security harbouring off the coasts of its member states. Recent developments in maritime security concern the Gulf region in a specific manner, most notably due to piracy and drug trafficking. Alongside these non-state actor threats, there are risks associated with state issues, in particular regarding the Strait of Hormuz and the UAE-Iran controversy over Abu Musa and other islands. Legal issues are the necessary point of departure for a sound assessment of maritime security. For this reason, the new Sharaka Research Paper ‘Maritime Security: Challenges and Opportunities for EU-GCC Cooperation’ by Professor Natalino Ronzitti (IAI) focuses on legal problems involved in sea use and management. After having assessed the regulatory framework of maritime security, it concentrates on issues of particular relevance for the Gulf, taking into account piracy, including the establishment of ad hoc tribunals for the punishment of pirates/terrorists; the maritime relevance of the proposed WMD Free Zone in the Middle East for the GCC; the settlement of current maritime controversies and other soft security threats such as drug trafficking and trafficking in persons. Given the narrow limits of the Gulf and the fragile ecosystem, marine pollution is another source of concern for the Gulf states. In conclusion, some concrete lines of policy action for EU-GCC cooperation are suggested, taking the EU-GCC Joint Action Programme as the starting-point.

The Cultural Press in the GCC Countries is Researched in the Framework of the Second Sharaka Fellowship

May 152013
 

The second Sharaka Fellowship for researchers in the field of humanities and social sciences has been awarded to Edoardo Barzaghi who will spend three months at the Global Connections Center (TAWASUL) in Muscat, Oman. He is carrying out a research on the representation of Europe in the Gulf cultural magazine “Al-‘Arabi”.

Edoardo Barzaghi is a Ph.D. student at Sapienza University of Rome. His research thesis focuses on the cultural press in the GCC countries. Member of the editorial board of the literary review “La rivista di Arablit”, he has also taken part in the organisation of several international conventions for the Chair of Modern and Contemporary Arabic Literature of Sapienza University of Rome. He has published a number of articles on contemporary Arab writers and a few translations of short stories by Yemeni authors.

He holds a Master’s degree in Oriental Language and Civilisations from Sapienza University of Rome and a Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Languages from the University of Studies of Turin (Italy). He also holds a post-graduate diploma in Cultural and Linguistic Mediation from the Faculty of Political Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome.

The EU’s foreign policy in the Mediterranean: Challenges and opportunities

May 102013
 

The Sharaka project held its second series of lectures in Kuwait, Dubai and Bahrain between 15 and 17 April 2013 aimed at enhancing knowledge and understanding of the EU, its institutions and policies in the Gulf region. The lectures dealt with the European Union’s foreign policy in the Mediterranean region in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings. Each lecture, delivered by Nathalie Tocci, Deputy Director at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), was followed by the comments and remarks of a discussant belonging to the three host organisations in the Gulf: the American University of Kuwait, Zayed University in Dubai and the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies – Derasat.

After a brief overview of the political situation in North African countries, the lecturer underlined the lack of a concerted, long-term strategy by the EU in support of the democratic aspirations of Mediterranean people that were lay bare by the Arab spring. Immediately after the uprisings broke out in January 2011, the EU implemented a rethink of its bilateral European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) by capitalising on the growing political heterogeneity of the transitions, with some countries tentatively moving towards democracy while others remaining stuck in various forms of authoritarian adjustment. The EU adopted the ‘more for more’ principle and made conditionality more stringent in order to encourage political reforms in North African and Middle Eastern countries and to deepen economic relations with these economies. After outlining the improvements associated with the ENP’s revision, Dr Tocci’s talk moved to focus on its shortcomings. The renewed European commitment towards the region needs to move beyond rhetoric and concentrate on small and medium enterprises, microcredit projects, rural development as well as the empowerment of civil society.

Against this backdrop, the lecturer argued, Southern Europe is confronted with a great opportunity to overcome the EU’s foreign policy impasse by jumping into the driver’s seat of European Mediterranean policy. A number of present and historical similarities give the Southern Mediterranean and Southern Europe the chance to share experiences on institution-building and constitution drafting while forging a more human face to cooperation. In other words, countries such as Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain, which have gone through painful transitions from authoritarian rule in the past, are now called to make the most of the lessons they have learnt and take the lead of the European Mediterranean strategy by tracing clearer political and economic guidelines that are able to meet the new challenges that have emerged on both shores of the Mediterranean sea. In doing that, Southern European countries’ should promote trilateral partnerships with actors enjoying better economic fortunes, notably Turkey and the GCC states, to complement for the EU’s, and Southern Europe in particular, drastically limited resources and mounting fiscal constraints.

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