EU High Representative Kaja Kallas confirmed from Warsaw on Wednesday 4 March that a joint meeting of foreign ministers from the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Qatar) would be held on Thursday 5 March.
“Tomorrow (Thursday), we will have a meeting with the EU foreign ministers and the ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss the way forward”, she announced. According to a Council press release, at the end of the morning, the European ministers will discuss the situation in Iran and the Middle East in the light of the latest developments on the ground, with the participation of the Secretary General and representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
“The war in the Middle East is spreading rapidly. Iran’s strategy is to sow chaos and set the region on fire by indiscriminately attacking its neighbours. The regime is making a strong case for its own demise”, said the High Representative. While she believes that the ideal scenario would be a democratic Iran that poses no threat to its neighbours, “the outcome is far from certain right now”, she said, adding that no one could predict how the conflict would evolve.
Possible G7 Finance meeting next week. For their part, the finance ministers of the G7 countries could hold talks, “probably early next week” on the “necessary responses” to the possible economic consequences of the conflict. “We want to let a week go by and see how the conflict develops and how the markets evolve”, explained Roland Lescure, France’s Minister of the Economy and Finance, whose country currently chairs the G7, on RadioFrance. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)