Considerations on COM(2025)194 - New negotiating directives for a regional Free Trade Agreement and bilateral Free Trade Agreements with the countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf and respectively Bahrain, Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates

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dossier COM(2025)194 - New negotiating directives for a regional Free Trade Agreement and bilateral Free Trade Agreements with the countries of the ...
document COM(2025)194 EN
date May  8, 2025
 
(1) In 1989 the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations, on behalf of the European Community, with the countries of the GCC on an inter-regional free trade agreement or on bilateral free trade agreements. In 2001, the Council adopted revised negotiating directives to reinvigorate those negotiations.

(2) Since 2008 the Free Trade Agreement negotiations between the EU and the countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf are stalled.

(3) On 20 June 2022 the Council endorsed the “Joint Communication on a strategic partnership with the Gulf”, called for comprehensive and stronger partnership between the EU and the GCC and its Member States.  1

(4) The first ever EU-GCC Summit, held in Brussels on 16 October 2024, underscored the growing significance of EU-GCC relations and reconfirmed the EU’s commitment to a more ambitious partnership with the Gulf countries, including on trade and investment related matters.

(5) In the Joint Statement of the EU-GCC Summit of 16 October 2024 the countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf expressed renewed interest to further develop their trade and investment relations with the EU through multilateral, regional, and bilateral frameworks, as appropriate.

(6) Given the EU’s and GCC members’ mutual interests and ambition to tap into the opportunities offered by an enhanced trade and investment partnership the EU is offering the possibility of negotiating free trade agreements with those Gulf partners that are interested and share the EU’s level of ambition in line with the objectives set out in the “Joint Communication on a strategic partnership with the Gulf” of June 2022.

(7) With the objective to strengthen the EU’s role as a privileged partner of the GCC countries the new negotiating directives aim to enhance the existing regional and bilateral trade cooperation by aligning it with the ambitious strategic orientations underway in the EU and in the GCC countries.