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GRC Staff Commentary & Analysis

Dr. Christian Koch

Director of Research
2024-05-05
Europe’s Toughened Stance on Migration

On April 10, 2024, the European Parliament passed the EU’s new Pact on Asylum and Migration, the first major reform to the entrance procedures for migrants and asylum seekers a ...

Writer: Dr. Christian Koch and Houda Barroug
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2024-04-22
Europe and Regional Security in the Gulf

The release of the document entitled “Vision of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for Regional Security” in March 2024 represents an important and long overdue addition to the ...

Writer: Dr. Christian Koch
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2024-04-14
GCC-EU Ties are Progressing but Obstacles Remain <br> Original Piece Published by <a href="https://www.arabnews.com/node/2492516" target="blank" style="text-decoration:underline">(Arab News)</a>

GCC-EU relations are in general on a positive trajectory. The points of contact between the two sides have intensified markedly in recent years at both the governmental and ins ...

Writer: Dr. Christian Koch
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2024-02-14
Europe and Red Sea Security <p style="font-weight: 300">Recent steps could prove useful for wider EU-GCC collaboration</p>

The 27 EU member states are set to approve plans for a military mission to protect merchant shipping in the Red Sea when EU foreign ministers give their final seal of approval ...

Writer: Dr. Christian Koch
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2024-01-04
Repeating the Mistakes of the 2003 Iraq Invasion - The Warnings from the GCC and other Middle Eastern states on the Gaza crisis are once again being ignored -

The crisis in Gaza continues unabated. There have already been more than 20,000 deaths–1,200 on the Israeli side and more than 22,000 on the Palestinian side as of January 1, 2 ...

Writer: Dr. Christian Koch
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2023-10-18
The US and Europe Must be More Balanced to Diffuse Middle Eastern Tensions

Destruction in Gaza, October 2023, Source: CNN Just one month ago, there was hope for peace in Palestine through the Saudi-US-Israel talks. In his recent interview with Fox N ...

Writer: Dr. Christian Koch and Amnah Mosly
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2023-03-12
A Win for Regional Diplomacy Saudi-Iran relations have taken an important step, although only a small and initial one

(Source: China Daily/Reuters, 2023)The announcement of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran on Marc ...

Writer: Dr. Christian Koch
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2022-06-07
EU-GCC Relations: Turning a New Page?

The year 2022 has so far witnessed positive developments as far as the relations between the European Union ( and the Gulf Cooperation Council ( is concerned. In January, GCC S ...

Writer: Dr. Christian Koch
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2022-03-15
The Role of Think Tanks in Public Policy: The Case of the Gulf WMD Free Zone Project

Conceptualising the ideaThink Tanks play an important role in taking a step back and looking at a problem from a variety of angles. A major part of our work at the Gulf Researc ...

Writer: Dr. Christian Koch,Ghassan Shams,Layla Ali
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2020-09-22
The German UN Security Council Presidency: Implications for the Gulf Region

On June 8, 2018, Germany was elected as a member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2019-2020 period. During this two-year term, Germany also held the Presidency ...

Writer: Dr. Christian Koch
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