Oil, carbon reductions and future EU-Gulf relations
EU OBSERVER
July marked the start of a new direction for the European Union, with Germany's Ursula von der Leyen as Commission president and Belgium's Charles Michel as president of the European Council have been charged with forging the bloc's new economic, political and diplomatic direction
In the former's case she set out a policy portfolio which acknowledged the diverse nature of the European Parliament.
Given the increased number of Green MEPs, she promised to reduce carbon emissions across the continent and proposed a transition fund to help countries meet those goals.
For her conservative MEP base and those from the more nationalist right, she pledged to rewrite the EU's migration and asylum rules.
These two areas may well have implications for the EU and its foreign policy, especially with extra-regional partners in the Middle East and more specifically the Gulf.
