Mohammed bin Salman to attend Brussels summit

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, is attending a landmark gathering on Wednesday between European Union and Arab Gulf country leaders in Brussels.

The EU confirmed Mohammed’s attendance late Tuesday, on the eve of the first-ever EU-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit. It’s a striking turnaround for a leader once condemned as a persona non grata in Western countries after the murder and dismemberment of United States-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his alleged direction in 2018.

Mohammed will be joined by top EU officials, including European Council President Charles Michel, who spearheaded the initiative, laying the groundwork for the crown prince’s attendance with his own visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this summer. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron will also attend.

Broadly, the summit is meant to signal “the significant momentum in the EU-GCC relations, which have been growing in intensity over the past years,” as one Council official put it. It occurs amid fears of full-fledged war in the Middle East and as the 27 EU leaders prepare to tackle the issue of migration at their own meeting later this week.

The EU is struggling, though, to get Gulf countries on board with a series of pro-Ukraine commitments, according to a draft statement seen by POLITICO.

The list of attendees at the summit has been closely guarded, with EU officials previously citing security concerns, even as doubts about the stature of the attendees threatened to undermine the credibility of the summit. The GCC’s other powerhouse, the United Arab Emirates, will be represented only by its deputy prime minister and finance chief, Maktoum bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, and Oman will also send a deputy prime minister.

However, the other GCC countries, Kuwait and Bahrain, will be represented by their heads of government, according to a list of meeting participants. Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, was long confirmed as the co-host, as Doha holds the rotating presidency of the GCC.

At least one key EU leader, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, plans to skip the GCC summit. Citing a “long-agreed appointment” at home, a Scholz spokesman said, the German leader will be represented by Macron.

The EU has boosted its ties to the fossil fuel-rich region in recent years, especially in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Yet the relationship has faced severe obstacles: The Qatargate scandal, in which a top MEP was accused of accepting cash after promoting Doha’s labor rights record, put the country’s ambitions for visa-free entry into the EU on deep freeze.

Nicholas Vinocur and Hans von der Burchard contributed to this report.

This story has been updated.