Riyadh: The EU-GCC summit that was due to open in Riyadh on 24 October has been postponed without a new date, and the delay leaves several European and Gulf priorities waiting for a political push. GCC Secretary General Jasem Al Budaiwi announced the decision on 15 October and cited the safety of visiting delegations. The Council of the EU issued a short statement the same day, saying the partnership is of great strategic importance and that the Union remains committed to deepening it.
The reason is security. Houthi missile strikes hit Saudi energy and maritime infrastructure and disrupted King Khalid International Airport, according to regional reporting. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was due to co-host the EU-GCC summit with European Council President António Costa, and all 27 EU leaders were expected. The Council’s own release gave no reason, which shows how carefully Brussels handles anything that touches Gulf security.
The economic case for the meeting has not changed. The Council puts EU-GCC trade at 165.6 billion euros in 2025, with roughly 110 billion in EU exports and 55.6 billion in imports, and fuels account for more than three quarters of what Europe buys. European investment stock in the Gulf reached 163.1 billion euros at the end of 2024, while Gulf investors held 189.8 billion in the Union. The relationship still rests on a 1989 cooperation agreement, and both regions want something more modern.
Visa policy shows what the EU-GCC summit was meant to unlock. Gulf governments hoped to harmonise Schengen waivers, because treatment varies sharply: the United Arab Emirates enjoys an exemption, while citizens of Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman receive five-year multiple-entry visas. A leaders’ text could have set a common path. Without one, each member state keeps applying its own habits, and Gulf officials keep noticing the gap.
Energy supplies a second unfinished file for the EU-GCC summit. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev has floated a railway corridor that would carry Saudi oil through Syria, Turkey and Bulgaria to Europe, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, which he describes as blockaded by Iran. Brussels has not adopted the idea, and the route crosses unstable territory, yet the proposal shows how the Gulf crisis pushes member states to think about supply security in new ways. France and Italy have meanwhile sent air defence systems to the UAE and, more recently, Saudi Arabia, which adds a defence layer to a partnership once defined by trade.
Human rights add friction that a postponement does not remove. Human Rights Watch wrote to Costa and Ursula von der Leyen on 7 October, urging them to raise the UAE’s alleged support for Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, political prisoners in Bahrain and the UAE, executions in Saudi Arabia, and migrant labour abuses. The group also asked the EU to link any bilateral trade and partnership deal to benchmarks and to monitoring by independent civil society.
The practical lesson is that a rescheduled EU-GCC summit needs a better-prepared agenda. Brussels should use the pause to agree internally on visas, to decide how far it will go on rights conditions, and to test the Gulf’s appetite for a trade text. If the partners return with deliverables rather than only declarations in 2026 or early 2027, the delay will look like prudence. If they return with the same communiqué, the EU-GCC summit will have wasted a rare chance to set the terms of a relationship that matters for energy, security and trade.
