Tripoli Stonewalls Athens on EEZ as Turkish Influence Prevails
2532 Mins Read
Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis visited Libya’s capital without achieving substantial progress on maritime boundary delimitation, the key issue affecting relations between Athens and Tripoli’s government.
According to diplomatic sources, the sides agreed on “Greece and Libya’s readiness, as states with opposite coasts, to discuss EEZ delimitation in the near future.” However, no practical steps were announced, such as establishing technical committees or other preliminary measures to resume talks suspended in 2010.
Gerapetritis met sequentially with Presidential Council President Mohamed al-Menfi, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, and Acting Foreign Minister Taher al-Baour. He emphasized that Greece seeks to resolve all maritime zone delimitation issues with neighboring countries according to the International Law of the Sea.
The Libyan side’s evasiveness demonstrates that despite instability, Dbeibeh’s interim government maintains firm support for the Turkish-Libyan memorandum.
Regarding exploration tenders for two blocks south of Crete, Gerapetritis stressed Greece exercises sovereign rights under international law without acting against third parties. No Libyan official responded positively, unsurprisingly given Tripoli’s recent formal opposition through UN verbal communication, clearly following Turkish-Libyan memorandum logic.
On migration, Gerapetritis presented the dramatic increase in flows from Tobruk to Crete. Both sides agreed on border control cooperation needs, with Libya requesting Greek assistance bilaterally and through EU and UN Security Council frameworks. “Discussions occurred in a particularly productive climate and we jointly decided to put back on track the major issues concerning us: migration, bilateral trade and of course maritime zone delimitation between our two countries,” Gerapetritis said.
