On Thursday 10 April, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, agreed to launch negotiations on a free trade agreement. In recent weeks, the Commission had spoken of Abu Dhabi’s interest in a trade agreement with the EU.
At present, relations between the two parties are governed by the EU/Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Cooperation Agreement. Negotiations for a trade agreement between these...