The European Union is missing from the Middle East. Politically and diplomatically. Regarding the multifaceted struggles of the Syrian conflict, and the same goes for Libya and Yemen, the EU is absent. Between Israel, Palestine and the Middle East process, European support for the peace process range from barely impactful to not-a-all. Lastly, in countries plagued by chronic instability, such as Lebanon or Iraq, there also, the EU does not seem to have any weight.
While the EU’s concern for all these countries and their struggles remains high, its absence remains highly baffling. Would these issues be located far from Europe, the EU’s absence, albeit troubling for such an actor and the values it embodies, could be ‘understood’. However, this is not the case. The Middle East lies at the European borders and its woes, even if we bury our heads into the sands, deeply and invariably impact the EU, its member states and its people.
Besides, the EU’s impotence does not only impact it in the short term, such as exemplified by terrorism or waves of refugees but indirect, less visible, long term ramifications. Indeed, as a region of prime interest for Europe, the EU’s absence only prompted third parties, such as Russia,[1] Turkey[2], Iran[3] and China[4] among others, to tighten their grip and cement their influence on the Middle East.
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[1] Cerulli, R. (2019). Russian Influence in the Middle East: Economics, Energy, and Soft Power. American Security project (2019). Retrieved from the URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/resrep19825.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Afee9e4d45b26313686e9a83c390be603
[2] Benli Altunışık, M. (2020). The New Turn in Turkey’s Foreign policy in the Middle East: Regional and Domestic Insecurities. IAI PAPERS 2020. Retrieved from the URL: https://www.iai.it/sites/default/files/iaip2017.pdf
[3] Collective. (2020). Iran’s Networks of Influence in the Middle East. IISS. Retrieved from the URL: https://www.iiss.org/publications/strategic-dossiers/iran-dossier
[4] Freymann, E. (2021). Influence without Entanglement in the Middle East. Foreign Policy. Retrieved from the URL: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/25/influence-without-entanglement-in-the-middle-east/
