Statement by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the signing of a Maritime Zone Demarcation Agreement between Greece and Egypt

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“My visit to the frontier island of Halki in the Dodecanese coincides with a very important day for our country, for international legality and for stability in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Today, we signed an agreement to demarcate our maritime zones with our friend, Egypt.
It took 15 years of negotiations to reach an agreement that is in line with international law and recognises all the rights of our islands to their Maritime Zones.

An agreement which is perfectly legal and fully satisfies both countries. An agreement that creates a new reality in the Eastern Mediterranean and restores legality in the region. The very legality that the illegal and null and void Turkish-Libyan Memorandum of Understanding attempted to disrupt.

Today we have proven with Egypt, as we did with Italy a few months ago, that adherence to international Law is the only road that leads to security, peace, stability, and good neighbourly relations. We intend to follow this road with all our neighbours.

We hope and expect that they too will do alike.”

Informal brief on the EEZ demarcation agreement with Egypt (diplomatic sources)

This agreement forms part of a broader strategy on resolving bilateral outstanding issues and building alliances with third parties in a way that promotes national interests, on the basis of respect for international Law.

It is a balanced agreement. It is fully in line with the Law of the Sea, as applied in practice and case-law. This agreement reconfirms our standing position that islands have sovereign rights to a continental shelf and an EEZ.

It also establishes the effect our islands have on maritime zones.

The main criteria in play during negotiations were the provisions of the Law of the Sea, and in particular the right of islands to maritime zones.

The key message to everyone is that Greece does not make illegal deals, nor does it force other countries into leonine deals. It negotiates and proceeds to demarcations on the basis of the Law of the Sea, while the correctness of our policy versus illegal acts, such as the Turkish-Libyan Memorandum of Understanding, is evidenced by the fact that Cairo has chosen to demarcate its EEZ with Greece, despite Turkey’s futile efforts to outbid by offering Egypt a larger EEZ.

* • • In every respect, this is a major national success that follows the agreement with Italy and brings a period of inaction and hesitation in foreign policy to an end.
* • • Our country increases its sovereign footprint considerably and guarantees its sovereign rights and jurisdiction.
* • • The country implements a national integration strategy, guaranteeing full respect for international Law and the peaceful resolution of disputes in the eastern Mediterranean.
* • • The country creates an acquis under international Law that cannot be challenged by anyone. It reaps the fruits (with tangible results) of a policy of principles based on co-operation and international Law.
* • • This is an agreement between countries that do not challenge each other’s rights, do not blackmail, or threaten each other.

It confirms the nullity of the Turkish-Libyan Memorandum
* • • An effective action that entombs in the Turkish-Libyan Pact.
* • • The agreement was concluded with Cairo after 13 rounds of negotiations and 15 years since the start of negotiations, as well as 8 months after the Ankara-Tripoli agreement.
* • • Now, in addition to the practical confirmation of the nullity of the illegal Turkish-Libyan Memorandum, we are guaranteeing our legal rights in agreement with a neighbouring country. Our diplomatic position is further strengthened, and it becomes abundantly clear that Turkish claims are completely illegal and ungrounded.
* • • Libya now lies between two perfectly legal boundary demarcations (Greece-Italy and Greece-Egypt). The Libyan Government has no legal grounds to reject discussions with Greece on the lawful demarcation of an EEZ between our two countries, in the region south of Crete. This is the only legal demarcation and serves the interests of both our countries.

This agreement confirms that respect for the Law of the Sea is an essential condition and a necessary requirement for the demarcation of maritime zones of the countries in the region.
We hope that Turkey and Libya will realise and align themselves with this reality, to enable the resolution of all related issues.

* • • This agreement effectively counteracts Turkey’s illegal attempt to demarcate an EEZ directly with Egypt in violation of the sovereign rights of Greek islands to maritime zones.

* • This is a partial demarcation, namely it forms part of an overarching subsequent demarcation between the two countries.

Finally, our relations Egypt, the world’s largest Arab country, have been further deepened and strengthened.