Athens and Rome sign EEZ agreement
After years of negotiation Greece and Italy have signed an agreement demarcating an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) between the two countries in the Mediterranean. The current agreement is also seen as a reaction to a similar cooperation agreement between Turkey and Libya. Athens will also cooperate with Egypt and Albania in the future. Commentators explain why this is the right approach.
Defending sovereignty
The agreement also sends an important message to Turkey, lawyer Antonis Stylianou explains in Alitheia:
“This is the first EEZ agreement for Greece and it comes at a critical time for the next geopolitical developments in the region, with Turkey's strongly provocative actions in the eastern Mediterranean and its challenging of Greece and Cyprus's sovereign rights. To this end, Turkey is trying to implement the illegal agreement it has concluded with Libya and is threatening to carry out seismic surveys and drilling on the Greek continental shelf.”
This is the way to go
This agreement is a masterpiece of diplomacy, the pro-government newspaper Kathimerini says:
“It is a perfect illustration of the significant benefits that can be reaped as a result of active, discreet and methodical diplomatic efforts. The agreement and the process of how it was reached is also a paradigm of how Greece ought to act from here on with the rest of its neighbors - at least those who abide by international laws. The country needs to aim for swift progress, unfettered by dogmatic compulsions and obsessions, because the state of play in the region does not permit us to allow unfinished business to remain that way for much longer.”