Libya notified the UN of the cabinet’s decision that it has a territorial waters zone of 12 nautical miles, as well as a contiguous zone of 24 nautical miles, one of its rights based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Essentially, the move in question mainly aims to respond to the decree to delimit the western limits of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Egypt – another initiative of the government of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi – in order to solve problems that were created by the Turkish-Libyan memorandum of 2019 on the Egyptian side.

Libya and Egypt disagree on the delimitation of their maritime borders and with the latest letter to the UN, Tripoli essentially claims that they are further east. It is worth noting that the contiguous zone of 24 nautical miles does not give sovereign rights to the state declaring it, but it gives control rights in matters related to trade traffic (customs), security, or immigration.

Turkey and Libya’s Government of National Accord had essentially signed an illegal Maritime Boundary Treaty to create an Exclusive Economic Zone in the Mediterranean Sea, which would mean they could claim rights to ocean resources. This was followed by the signing of a new memorandum in 2022 that provided for hydrocarbon exploration.

Libya is now on the counter-attack with this move again to argue that its borders are being extended further east.

Also read: Greece – Libya | Athens seeks to restart relations

According to the information, the possibility of a relevant comment – reaction in the next period from the Greek side is not ruled out, as Greece is assessing the situation, without, however, currently considering that there is cause for concern.

Greece may not be directly affected, but as the specialist in International Affairs, Petros Liakouras, reports on OPEN, Libya is undermining a future EEZ delimitation arrangement with Greece.

According to him, Greece must protest individually, because in this way its future potential sovereign rights to the south of Crete are affected, while taking into account that Libya has as the starting point of all maritime zones the closure of the Gulf of Sirte, which means that the lines that will be drawn between the two countries will be much closer to both Greece and Italy.

Libya has already established an EEZ. What is still pending is the delimitation. As the specialist notes, Libya knows very well that it rests on the shoulders of Turkey and Greece must find a solution by delimiting maritime zones. Otherwise, Libya can proceed artificially and create fait accompli, which has never been overturned.

All the latest developments bring back to the table the question of whether Greece will finally proceed with the extension of its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles south of Crete.

Greece had extended its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles in the Ionian sea, but had not included Crete which could be considered a casus belli by Turkey.

Also read: Libya | Court suspends memorandum with Turkey on exploration of hydrocarbons – Foreign Ministry’s note verbale to Libya embassy