The European Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution on Thursday condemning the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and urging a European Union-wide arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.
The arms trade between the EU and Saudi Arabia is valued at close to $20bn a year..
The European Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution on Thursday condemning the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and urging a European Union-wide arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.
The arms trade between the EU and Saudi Arabia is valued at close to $20bn a year.
Background
Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian journalist who was a permanent resident of the United States and a columnist at the Washington Post, was killed at the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul on 2 October. He was a vocal, but not extreme, critic of Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and his “oppressive regime”. The Saudi government denied any involvement in Khashoggi’s death for two weeks into the investigation, before finally admitting he was killed by several high-ranking officials in the embassy in an alleged fist fight. Turkish US officials claim they have evidence he was dismembered and tortured before being murdered.
Saudi’s ties with its strongest ally, the United states, have become strained over the issue. Many political, financial and business leaders have also spoken strongly against the country.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s top oil producer and exporter. Saudi Arabia’s economy is petroleum-based; Oil actually accounts for 90% of the country’s exports and nearly 75% government revenues. In 2014, a global fall in oil prices caused the Saudi economy to deteriorate. According to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report, Saudi’s economic growth will slow in the next five years, while Saudi foreign reserves are declining at an alarming rate (falling to $593 billion at the end of February 2016, down 17% from the previous year’s level).
On October 22nd, Germany announced that it will suspend all arms sales to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a response to alleged Saudi role in the Khashoggi murder.
Analysis
The European Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution on Thursday condemning the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and urging a European Union-wide arms embargo on Saudi Arabia in response.
The resolution came several days after Germany became the first Western government to suspend future arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest arms importer. On Sunday, Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that, in light of Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 killing in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate, “arms exports can’t take place in the current circumstances.” However, it remains unclear whether Thursday’s resolution will pressure the governments of individual E.U. member states to follow suit in giving up their own lucrative Saudi contracts.
After the United States, Britain and France are Saudi Arabia’s two largest sources of arms. So far, both have issued scathing condemnations of Khashoggi’s killing but have stopped short of heeding Merkel’s example. According to Britain’s Department for International Trade, Britain exported arms and equipment worth at least $1.4 billion to Saudi Arabia last year, but the real figure is probably higher. In 2017, potential French sales of more than $14.7 billion were approved.
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May both spoke via telephone with King Salman, according to a statement issued by the Saudi Foreign Ministry late Thursday, hours after the European Parliament’s resolution passed.
According to an Elysee Palace readout of the conversation, Macron pressed his Saudi counterpart for further clarity on what happened to Khashoggi and emphasized that France considers the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press an “essential priority.” “France will not hesitate to take, along with its partners, international sanctions against those responsible,” Macron said, according to the readout. However, Britain and France have stopped short of suspending arms sales to the desert kingdom.
Aside from a potential arms embargo, the resolution sought to push individual European countries to impose sanctions on specific individuals suspected in the Khashoggi killing with “targeted measures” such as travel bans in Europe or the freezing of European assets.
Assessment
Our assessment is that EU is choosing to exert pressure on Saudi Arabia into clearing the air over the murder. We believe that the EU and Canada may also complement the arms embargo with a criticism of the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which is being fought with largely European weapon systems.
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