1. Country Profile

Capital: Riyadh
Population: 26,131,703(July 2011 est.) 
Ethnic groups: Arab 90%, Afro-Asian 10%
Religions: Muslim 100%
 
Regime Type: Monarchy
Head of state:  King ABDALLAH bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud (since 1 August 2005)
Prime Minister: ABDALLAH bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud (since 1 August 2005) Monarch is both the chief of state and head of government
Parliament (No Elections): All 150 Members of Parliament (Consultative Council) are appointed by Monarch. No political parties
Freedom House Ranking: NOT FREE
 
GDP / Capita: $14,540
Literacy Rate: 78.8%. 
Unemployment Rate: 10.8 % (Data for Saudi Males Only)
Human Development Index (2010): 0.752 (55th)
 

Protests
 
2. Current Political Situation
 
-Women in Saudi Arabia will not need a male guardian's approval to run or vote in municipal elections in 2015, when women will also run for office for the first time
 
-King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia told  Gulf leaders who were meeting in Riyadh to establish a Gulf Union to take on "the challenges that threaten our nations, security and stability.
 
-Saudi Arabia may consider acquiring nuclear weapons to match regional rivals Israel and Iran, said its former intelligence chief Prince Turki Al Faisal
 
-Amnesty International said that a proposed anti-terror law would make matters worse by reinforcing "draconian and abusive" measures. The measures, if adopted, could engender repression in the name of security. Peaceful acts of dissent could in future be prosecuted as a "terrorist crime".
 
-Saudi Arabia has taken a first step to have Iran reported to the United Nations Security Council, a move that could lead to new sanctions, but Tehran dismissed allegation it plotted to kill the Saudi Ambassador to the US as a ploy to isolate it
 
- The head of the elections committee said that Saudi women will be granted the right to vote in the next municipal elections due to be held after four years. Nevertheless, the decision taken by the authorities to ban women from voting in the last municipal elections has disappointed women and men who advocate for women's rights in the Kingdom. 
- In what is seen as a move to protect senior figures in religious establishment and other senior public officials amid growing media and internet criticism, the Saudi monarch King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz has issued amendments to the Saudi Press and Publications Law.
 
- The Saudi government announced  the formation of the National Anti-corruption Commission which in March was ordered by King Abdullah to be established.
 
- Saudi accusations have mounted against Iran in recent months, with Saudi officials publicly accusing Shiite-dominated Iran of inciting trouble among the Shiite populations of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and other Arab nations.
 
Following anti-government demonstrations in other countries, Saudi Arabia, the most conservative country in the Gulf region also a member of the GCC, was also 'contaminated' by spreading unrests.
Demonstrations occurred in the midst of a call through the social networking site, Facebook, to hold a massive protest on March 11, 2011. Hundreds turned out to protest on what had been billed as a "day of rage," according to activists, though a planned demonstration in the Middle Eastern nation's capital failed to materialize. The protests -- both made up largely of Shiite Muslims calling for the release of Shiite prisoners -- occurred despite a Saudi government ban on all kinds of public demonstrations.
 
Saudi Arabia lacks a tradition of popular protest (demonstrations and public gathering in Saudi Arabia are prohibited unless there is the consent of the ruler), at least among the Sunni majority in the kingdom, and it seems that there is an ongoing willingness to give King Abdullah the benefit of the doubt and to assume, as a number of Saudi bloggers have commented, that it is those around him who are responsible for holding back substantive change. As a result, at this stage it seems unlikely that major upheaval will occur, although a developing process of periodic petitions and even polite, modest protests could grow on the back of regional events and build on established trends in the kingdom.
 
A group of Saudi academicians and political analysts have praised the decision taken by King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz for the establishment of a national anti-corruption commission to report directly to him.
 
On February 23, 2011, King Abdullah suddenly promised benefits package worth U.S. $ 36 billion for its people. The king also set a minimum wage of 3,000 riyals ($800) a month for all Saudis. He also gave amnesty to some prisoners who were convicted of financial crimes. King Abdullah also ordered the 15 percent salary increase for civil servants. According to analysts, the decisions of the King of Saudi Arabia was intended to prevent the upheaval of the people in the country.
 
Whether this more patient line is maintained, however, will depend on the future stance of the authorities, and how they react to any expressions of discontent. The mishandling of the protests in Bahrain (where several protesters were shot dead) caused a furious backlash among the population in that country. The Saudi authorities' decision in February to arrest seven of the ten founders of the Islamic Umma Party—founded in early February by a lawyer, Abdulaziz Al-Wohaiby, who has defended arrested Sunni reformers in the past—does not bode well (political parties are banned in Saudi Arabia).
 
However, arguably it is the succession, and in particular the perception of the present king as a conduit for reformists' demands, that could prove crucial in deciding future stability in the kingdom. King Abdullah, who is 87 years old, is widely believed to be acting as a constraint on the second deputy premier, Prince Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz al-Saud, and his interior ministry officials. Prince Nayef has thus far advocated a zero-tolerance approach to any political protests that might occur in Saudi Arabia—ruling that all political protests will be banned, following a series of Shia protests in the Eastern Province—and he has pledged full support to the Bahraini royal family as it considers how to respond to a popular uprising.
 
With the Saudi crown prince, Sultan bin Abdel-Aziz al-Saud, in very poor health, there is a relatively high chance of Prince Nayef acceding to the throne in the near term.
 
3. Key Issues
 
The protests in the majority Sunni kingdom have followed similar demands across the Arab world for more freedom and democracy. Activists have been calling for reform and the release of people jailed without charge or trial as well as an end to corruption and nepotism and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, adding that "the people's consent is the sole guarantee of unity and stability”.
 
4. EU / Saudi Arabia  Relations
 
The current framework for economic and political cooperation is the 1989 EU-GCC cooperation agreement
 
The EU is Saudi Arabia's most important trade partner (17,4%/ all Trade, 2009). Saudi Arabia exports mostly Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials to the EU while importing Machinery and transport equipment from the EU.
 
The EP interparliamentary Delegation "Arab Peninsula" visited Saudi Arabia from 25-29 November.  Meetings:  with Majlis ash-Shura representatives, the Secretary-General of the GCC, the  Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, the Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs as well as with women organizations.
 

5. Like Minded Partners
 
A. Sister party and/or progressive counterpart
 
Political parties are banned.
 
B. Civil Society
 
C. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
 
 

Updated: 18.1.12