Check against delivery! 

Thank you, Minister, thank you Secretary General, thank you to all of you for your attention. 

It [has been] eight years since the last meeting of the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council and its Member States. Eight years is a lot of time. This meeting was long due and has taken place in the middle of a terrible crisis which was not foreseen when we called for this meeting and prepared and organised it. Thank you very much to you Minister and to Oman for the excellent organisation of this meeting. For us it has been a very important and fruitful meeting that hands our partnership and put us in a positive trajectory both on the regional and bilateral track.  

I see a very good attendance of my fellow Ministers of the European Union Member States, and of the EU Commissioner on Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, and also the EU Special Representative for the Gulf, the former Italian Minister Luigi Di Maio. This strong presence sends a strong signal of the importance that the EU attaches to its privileged partnership with the Gulf Cooperation Council and its Members. From this point of view, I’m sure we agree, the meeting has been a success. 

This year, the Joint Council was of particular significance, and it has produced good results for both sides. Last year, we adopted - at the European Union - our Strategy for the Gulf and at a time where the evolving dynamics in the world geopolitics make us to need both each other, a stronger partnership, to address our common challenges. 

These challenges were there before last Saturday, and will remain. But last Saturday marked a terrible crisis for the Middle East, and for the Gulf.  

There have been tragic moments in the history of the Middle East. What has happened since Saturday morning is shocking, for the suffering that this attack launched by Hamas has caused – and continues to cause – to innocent civilians, and the negative impact this will have on the possibility for the two people to live side by side in peace and security.  

Since last Saturday, I spoke to the Palestinian Prime Minister [Mohammad Shtayyeh] to ask the Palestinian Authority to contribute to immediate cessation of hostilities and promote the interest of the Palestinian people and the aspiration of the whole region to security and stability. 

I also spoke to the Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, to express the solidarity of the European Union, in front to these terrible terrorist attacks, our strong condemnation of violence and terror and express the need to respect international humanitarian law and to prevent more civilian lives [from] being lost. 

I spoke to many others in the Gulf and to other partners in the region.  

And today, we agreed that the priority is to cease violence and to prevent further regional escalation. It is of utmost importance to ensure the release of hostages, as well as the protection of civilians at all times and by all parties.  

In order to be concrete, in order to be well understood, let me read – with your permission – Point 21 of our Common Declaration, which summarises what I am saying: 

The Joint Council express deep concern about the grave development in Israel and Gaza and condemns all attacks again civilians. It calls for the protection of civilians, reminding the parties obligation under the universal principal of the international humanitarian law. It further calls for restraint the release of hostages and allowing access to food, water, and medicines, according with international humanitarian law, and it stresses the urgent need for a political solution to the crisis to avoid repeating this vicious cycle of violence in the future as it has happened in the past. 

The European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council Ministers are resolved to deploy a violent and urgent restrain and calm on all sides and agreed to continue consultations and to remain engaged.  

The Council supports the initiative taken by Saudi Arabia, the European Union, the League of Arab States, together with Egypt and Jordan, to revise the Middle East Peace Process. We reiterated our commitment to a two-state solution, because it is the only solution. We don’t know any other [way]. Based in 1967 lines in accordance with Arab Peace Initiative and relevant United Nations resolutions. They stress the importance of sustained financial support for UNRWA and to continue the humanitarian and development support for the Palestinians in the occupied territories. 

This is the result of a long and intense engagement and discussion, and frank and open exchange among us.   

Then, there are other issues on which we have been engaging discussions. I want to stress the importance that we continue giving to the two-state solution. At the same time, there are other crises in the world. We talk about – not less dangerous - the [Russian] aggression against Ukraine, that has unleashed a spiral of violence and devastation. We talk about the situation in Yemen and in Sudan that [are] destabilising the region, [these] are few examples of the challenges we are called to address together.  

The latest drone attack on a military camp at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Yemen border that has killed three Bahraini soldiers - for which I extend our condolences - and the continuous contentious decision taken by the Iraqi Court vis-à-vis Kuwait, indicate that continued efforts are an imperative for ensuring peace and stability in the region. 

We want -the European Union together- with you, dear friends and colleagues from the Council Cooperation to reaffirm our mutual and strong interest in a strategic partnership in order to be able to develop maritime security, to face cyber threats, disaster preparedness and counter-terrorism.  

We welcome today the official launching of a Security Dialogue and high-level forum for regional security, that will take place in Riyadh at the beginning of next year. 

We discussed about the humanitarian needs worldwide, how to increase and strengthen our cooperation to reinforce the quality, quantity, and effectiveness of our humanitarian assistance.

Our trade relations remain a key shared interest. We need to increase them in order to stimulate business cooperation.  

We also discussed about the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor launched at G20, that promises a tremendous opportunity for growth, job creation, and shared prosperity. We discussed about climate change and green transition, that will be addressed in COP28, where we will be working in cooperation. 

Finally, we reiterated the importance of fostering people-to-people contacts, as the only effective means to promote inclusive societies, founded on mutual understanding and respect for diversity, fighting against any kind of hate, and founded on mutual respect for diversity, from the point of view of religions, ethnicity, and whatever differences there are among human beings, because at the end, we remain – all of us – human beings.  

Thank you. 

Q&A 

Q .  You spoke about the partnership between the GCC and the European Union, which means more cooperation in tourism and the economic sector, and this will lead us on the topic of visas. Don’t you think that the visa exception is a necessity in this time for the GCC citizens? 

Thank you. Well, yes, I understand the issue of visas is a very sensitive issue too [that] we have been discussing. You know that the visa decision [is] taken by the Member States – but the European Union Institutions have certainly an influential role on that. The European Union [has] decided on visa adaptations to facilitate the essence of multiple entry visas for Gulf countries nationals travelling to Europe.  

This is, I think, an important improvement. It is not the final solution, but it is certainly and improvement because it allows such visas cascade that have received already granted to the five GCC partners given that the United Arab Emirates are already exempt from visa requirement. This will allow the citizens of these countries to benefit from long term visas easily, from one to five years. So, not for each and one of the travels, but as a package for a period of time. This is not the definitive solution, but it is certainly a strong improvement on the current situation.  

Q. Does the EU in its meeting today, are you going to take effective measures to pressure Israel to stop their attacks on the civilians especially with the great escalation that we have seen with the airstrikes yesterday, and yesterday night? 

Yes, certainly I want to respond. Well first, this is going to be an informative council, not a formal council because it is taking place out of the premises of the European Union and it is informal, which means that the Ministers will discuss politically about the situation. I thought it was a good idea since many of the Ministers are here in Oman and others could join us by video conference to analyse and to know better among us the situation after last Saturday. I am sure the Ministers will agree with the “communiqué” that we have agreed with you. And this agreement is everything that could be said, because if we condemn all attacks against civilians, and all means all, [we] call for the protection of civilians, and remind the obligation of fulfilling universal principles of international humanitarian law. It means that when [on] the ground Israel has the right to defend [itself] - certainly it has [it], but it has to be implemented according with the principles of international humanitarian law and we call for the release of hostages, and we call for the access to food, water, medicines which is also according to international humanitarian law; and we call for a need for a political solution, that could avoid once and again this cycle of violence. And certainly, we reject the terrorism acts that have created so much pain and, certainly from our understanding, not support the Palestinian cause. I think that the discussion of the Ministers will be following tonight and the agreement that we have been able to reach with our colleagues and friends from the Gulf could be a good pattern for our discussion this afternoon.    

Q. We know that Oman has played a good role in JCPOA. Did you discuss any solution with the Omani side to revive the JCPOA?  

Well, I have been talking my Omani friends and Ministers about a lot of things. Among them, certainly, the good work that the Omani diplomacy is doing in many fields, on mediation and communication between the parties. I know that Oman has an important role, is playing an important role for example and with respect to Yemen, but also has important contacts that could be useful for the development of the JCPOA, but this, in particular, has not been delt in the meeting. What we have been talking during the meeting and, I want to stress, is that to diffuse some false information about for example that Germany was going to cancel the support to the Palestinian authority. The German Ministers has clearly stated that this was not the case at all, that Germany will continue providing the support. Certainly, looking at the further developments and the medium and long terms but not suspending them. One of the parts of our resolutions, was stressing the importance of continuing humanitarian development and aid in the occupied Palestinian territories and the West Bank to the supporting Palestinian authority. From this point of view, as you know, it has already been clarified that there will not be suspension of the due payments to funds to Palestine from the European Union Commission.  

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-246707