A Periphery Without a Core: The Mecca Agreement and Europe’s Absence from the Middle East
- EU and strategic partners,
- EU strategy and foreign policy,
- Europe in the World,
- European defence / NATO,
- Middle-East / North Africa,
The Middle East and the Gulf have long been a priority area for European strategy. The geopolitical imperative is evident: not only does the region itself contain key resources; it also sits astride Europe’s lines of communication to Asia (Central, South, and East). The concern of the European powers, therefore, has always been to prevent a rival power from dominating the region; often by allying with the Ottoman Empire and later with Turkey, at times by establishing domination themselves. What was inconceivable was that, one way or another, Europe would not be a player – and yet this is exactly what is happening today. A dangerous aberration in the historical pattern of Europe’s strategic role in the region.
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