Cinzia Bianco is a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, based in Berlin, where she is working on political, security and economic developments in the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf region and relations with Europe. Additionally, she is a senior analyst at Gulf State Analytics. Previously, Bianco was a research fellow for the European Commission’s project on EU-GCC relations ‘Sharaka’ between 2013 and 2014.
She holds an MA degree in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies from King’s College London and a PhD in Middle East Politics from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, where she worked on threat perceptions in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) after the 2011 Arab uprisings.
The new, still-unsteady leaders of Kuwait and Oman cannot afford to take the same risks as their predecessors. They will need Europe’s support if they are to maintain their independence.
The Israel-UAE peace deal provides multiple wins for both countries, and for the U.S. But it could yet deepen the region’s political fault lines.
Gulf monarchies’ interest in the eastern Mediterranean has been growing steadily in the past few years, bringing the rivalries between them ever closer to the heart of Europe.
The past months have seen an unprecedented level of diplomatic engagement on the part of Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the Eastern Mediterranean.
