Interparlamentarische Treffen

A delegation from the European Parliament, led by Hannah Neumann (Greens/EFA, Germany), the Chair of the Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula, visited Riyadh and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) from 30 October to 1 November 2023.The delegation was also composed of Vice-Chair Niels Fuglsang (S&D, Denmark) and Substitute Member Adam Bielan (ECR, Poland).

This was the second official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula during the parliamentary term 2019-2024.

Members discussed with their Saudi interlocutors the regional security situation, Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, the fight against climate change in the lead-up to the COP 28, and Saudi Arabia's economic and social development, including in the field of Human Rights.

On 16 June 2022, a delegation of the Shoura Council of Saudi Arabia visited the European Parliament and met with the Members of the EP's Delegation for relations with Arab Peninsula in the context of the EP-KSA 15th Inter Parliamentary Meeting.

Dr Hannah Neumann, EP's Delegation for relations with Arab Peninsula, welcomed the Saudi Delegation and the other guests. In her opening statement, the DARP chair noted that a great deal of trust had been built over the years between the EP and the Shoura Council of Saudi Arabia and called for gradually move towards deeper cooperation on political and technical level.

In his reply, the chair of the Saudi Delegation, Dr Ayman Saleh Mohammed Fadel (head of the Hajj, Housing, and Services Committee) made the wish that frequency of bilateral meetings and other exchanges may be further increased. He also insisted on the great interest Saudi Arabia and Europe share in dealing with key issues such as trade and economics, regional stability and fight against climate change.

EEAS Deputy Managing Director Mr Carl Hallergard, made a brief but complete presentation of the recent EC-EEAS joint Communication on Strategic partnership with the Gulf. Mr Hallergard acknowledged that the recent communication on enhancing strategic ties with the Gulf aims at creating new ties with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states. He insisted that there are many potentialities for cooperation between the EU and Saudi Arabia especially in the field of promotion of renewable energies, fight against climate change and cooperation on sectoral issues. The EU Senior Diplomat also confirmed that the communication envisions an enhanced person-to-person dimension as well as on the respect of human rights and on women empowerment.

The Saudi Ambassador to the EU, H.E. Saad Bin Mohammed Alarify also briefly took the floor to explain that the present visit of the Shoura Council to the EP aimed to reinforce bilateral ties. He confirmed that that Saudi Arabia is ready to enhance its cooperation with the EU and to discuss on how the proposed Communication may coordinate with the internal ambitious plan, known as Vision 2030 that aims to modernise the Middle-East country.

The debate also focussed on the war in Ukraine. Dr Neumann praised the Saudi decision to vote in favour of UN resolutions on Ukraine and called her Saudi colleagues to explore all ways to end this aggression and alleviate the suffering of the Ukrainian people.

The discussion covered the war in Yemen. The current truce was also positively evoked. Discussions around the JCPOA highlighted instead the diverging visions existing between the EU and Saudi Arabia regarding a possible deal with Iran.

On the Abraham accords, the Saudi chair acknowledged that inform talks are taking place with Israel and that bilateral relations have improved over the last years.

On Bilateral economic relations members acknowledged that while the EU is Saudi Arabia's second trading partner and the first investor on the country, there is still an untapped potential in developing bilateral economic relations. Investments on green energies represent one of the most promising sector of the Saudi Economy. Participants tot the meeting welcomed the intention by the UE to improve cooperation with the GCC on environmentally related matters.

The discussion finally covered Human rights and social issues (including women empowerment).

While not satisfactory for Western standards, MEPs expressed appreciation for the (limited) efforts made by Saudi Arabia to repeal the so-called "kafala" system and create dedicated labour courts. They however noted that implementation is still lagging behind and that the overall living conditions of foreigners in Saudi Arabia (especially in the construction and household sectors) remain rather difficult.

Members positively commented the decision to allow for a gredual emancipation of Saudi women. The reform of the Shoura council may entail an enhanced quota of women as the mentioned "Vision 2030" also attributes a key and unprecedented role to women in Saudi Arabia.

On human rights, there was a positive understating that the recently established EU-KSA Human Rights' dialogue (whose first meeting took place in 2020) was a quite promising step towards enhanced cooperation on this difficult issue. A new meeting is due to take place at the end of the present year.

MEPs insisted on the negative record on Human rights of Saudi Arabia and mentioned a few recent cases such as those of the Sakharov prize winner Raif Badawi and of Ms Loujain al-Hathloul. The Chair also condemned the mass executions occurred in March 2022 (78 prisoners were killed in one single day establishing a new a brutal record also for Saudi Arabia). The Saudi counterparts replied by stating that all these actions were made in accordance with the national law but agreed that discrepancy in judgement and other malfunctioning should be addressed.

The 14th Interparliamentary meeting between the European Parliament and the Kingdome of Saudi Arabia took place on 23-25 February 2020.
Find below press release related to the delegation mission to Saudi Arabia and Oman.