The gulf region & Gulf war
The Persian Gulf is located in Western Asia. The Arab states of the Persian Gulf consist of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman (Appendix 1a). The six nations are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The GCC aims to boost economic cooperation between members and to guard against any threat from neighbouring states and from Islamic extremism (BBC 2012). The EU has a strong relationship with the GCC, ever since they signed a Cooperation Agreement in 1988. Its objective is to contribute to strengthening stability in a region of strategic importance and to facilitate political and economic relations. It therefore aims at broadening the economic and technical cooperation including cooperation in energy, industry, trade and services, agriculture etc. (Europa, 2012)
Therefore when the Persian Gulf War took place on the 2nd August 1990 – 28th February 1991 the EU got involved, however they did not get involved until 17th January 1991. The War was an armed conflict between Iraq and a coalition of 34 nations which were assembled by the United States; including Britain, France, Egypt and Saudi Arabia (Full list Appendix 1B). Iraqi troops began the invasion of Kuwait). During the period of the Gulf War the European Economic Community (EEC) was in power, the majority of the aims and objectives where based on how they could improve the economy. The cost of the gulf war was calculated by the United States Congress to be $61.1 billion, about $52 billion of that amount was paid by other countries; $36 billion by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states of the Persian Gulf;n$16 billion by Germany and japan (NY Times).
Shortly after the war was over Europe went into a recession whilst America went through recovery. Even Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, where going through a recession during that period (Time