Building up the EU-GCC economic relations

IT is well known that the economic relations between the European Union (EU) countries and the GCC countries are given a priority by both groups, by virtue of the historical ties and mutual interests that both sides are trying to develop in all fields.

No one can deny that GCC-EU relations are influenced by the general atmosphere and conditions, manifested in the relative decline over the past two decades. This decline came as a result of a number of factors, for which Europe is held responsible because of the discriminatory measures adopted by the EU in its relations and dealing with the GCC nations despite the GCC's good intents towards the EU and their keenness on developing the economic relations between both sides. This has led to removing EU countries from the top of the priority pyramid of trade between GCC States in favour of other countries, as well as other changes to GCC-EU relations.

Taking only two aspects of these changes through which the EU has lost a lot of interest, first is that the centre of gravity of the GCC's foreign trade and tourism sectors has shifted from Europe to East Asia, with all its effects on the relations between both the European and Gulf groups. In the commercial field, the obstacles and strict conditions - set by the EU for signing a free trade agreement with the GCC - has gradually removed it from the first place in the GCC trade in favour of China and India. As result, trade between the GCC and China saw a 16 per cent increase in 2012 to reach $155 billion, constituting 50 per cent of the total value of GCC's foreign trade, compared to 20 per cent only for European countries.

In this regard, the EU imposes discriminatory tariffs on GCC's petrochemical and aluminium products, while the EU products are treated equally with the products of the rest of countries in the world, despite obstacles placed by the EU that thwart the signing of a free trade agreement for the past 25 years.

On tourism and the movement of Gulf and European citizens, including businessmen and investors, there is another discrimination against Gulf citizens. This has led to shifting the centre of gravity from Europe to East Asia, which allows GCC citizens to visit its countries without pre-entry visa.

The Gulf citizens have found out over time that East Asian countries enjoy world-class tourist facilities and tourism specifications, in addition to a significant reduction on travel costs, compared with costs in European countries, especially after the high value of the exchange rate of the euro and the pound sterling.

The Gulf citizens (except Saudis) used to visit Britain without prior entry visas for many years until the late 1980s, at a time when obtaining visas for the rest of European countries used to take a few hours before procedures got complicated from the European side.

On trade, obtaining European work visa has become a very hard work that doesn't deserve all this suffering, apart from the suspicion and mistrust, not to mention the exploitation of high living standards in the GCC countries by increasing the value of five-year visa to more than $1000, in exchange for allowing Europeans to enter the GCC states, except for Saudi Arabia, without a prior entry visas. Therefore, the UAE has the right to make intensive efforts to exempt Emirati citizens from obtaining European "Schengen" visa, and the pre-entry visa for Britain, a move that is expected to include the rest of the GCC States, which allow visa- free entry for EU citizens.

The EU can feel reassured as there are no Gulf citizens from the six Gulf nations who seek to migrate to Europe, because the living standards in the six countries are either better than those in some European countries, or are equal to the living standards in the rich countries.