Giorgos Gerapetritis, the foreign minister of Greece, will travel to Libya on July 1st for talks over contested maritime boundaries and rising migration. The visit follows Libya’s emphatic response to Greece’s international call for oil and gas exploration in the waters south of its largest island, Crete, in the Mediterranean.
Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) and Turkey have delineated their continental shelves which are in violation of a part of Greece’s, specifically in the area southeast of Crete. At the same time, the Greek FM will discuss the rising of irregular migration from Libya to Greek coasts.
Gerapetritis will visit both Tripoli and Benghazi and reiterate Athens’ call for negotiations on maritime boundaries. Sources say Greece is prepared to provide resources to help Libya combat the flow of migrants and break up human trafficking networks. The islands affected by Libya’s boundary delineation include Strofades, Sapienza, Schiza, Gavdos, and Chrisi, which they haven’t factored into their drawing of maritime borders.
According to the Law of the Sea, Greece maintains that these islands must be taken into consideration in any agreement. Libya disagrees, arguing that the particular islands have no effect on maritime boundaries.
Relations between the two nations have been strained since Libya’s Government of National Accord and the rival government, the House of Representatives, in Tobruk—which did not initially support the Turkish-Libyan maritime agreement when it was drawn up in 2019—opposed a Greek call for international oil and gas exploration licenses in waters south of Crete.
The Turkey-Libya agreement
In 2019, Turkey and Libya’s GNA signed a memorandum of understanding which delineated a vast (200 nautical miles) Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for both in the eastern Mediterranean. At that time, the agreement had been disputed and was recognized neither by Libya’s rival government nor by Greece, Cyprus, or Egypt, as it was viewed as potentially affecting their sovereignty at sea.
Greece still considers the Turkish-Libyan GNA agreement null and void and has called on Libya to annul the deal. The European Council had expressly stated in 2019 that the agreement has no legal effect while GNA’s opposition in Tobruk also called the agreement null and void in contrast to its position today.
Libyan House Speaker Aguila Saleh Issa had sent a letter at that time to UN Secretary-General António Guterres describing the deal as invalid. Saleh had argued that “Libya and Turkey do not have common maritime boundaries.” The United States had also called the agreement “provocative,” saying it was a threat to the stability of the region.
Following Libya’s reaction to prospecting for oil and gas exploration southeast of Crete, the Hellenic Ministry of Environment and Energy countered Tripoli’s claims, stating that “Greece is actively exercising its sovereign rights with steadfast commitment to international law and the law of the sea.”
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