Dendias: Athens, Rome view Turkey-Libya MoU as 'illegal, groundless'

After a meeting on Tuesday with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias said on Tuesday that Athens and Rome both view the memorandum of understanding between Turkey and the Tripoli-based government of Libya on maritime borders as “illegal and groundless”.

He said the MoU signed last year “destabilizes the region” and “threatens peace,” while the one on maritime borders “attempts to usurp Greek sovereign rights.”

The two officials discussed the “significant prospects in the field of energy security,” with the recent findings in the Eastern Mediterranean and agreed on the “added value of the Eastmed pipeline, both for the countries, but mainly for our societies and our peoples,” Dendias said.

He added that he expected Italy to sign a deal to build the EastMed subsea pipeline to carry natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe (signed between Greece, Israel and Cyprus) “soon.”