Greece declares EEZ in Ionian Sea after unveiling maritime spatial plan

Greece has officially declared an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Ionian Sea, extending from the Ionian Islands to Cape Tainaron at the southern tip of the Peloponnese’s Mani peninsula.

The declaration, issued through a Presidential Decree, was published Thursday in the Government Gazette, just a day after the formal unveiling of the country’s comprehensive Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) framework.

The delineation of the EEZ is grounded in the 2020 bilateral agreement between Greece and Italy, along with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The decree also asserts that Greece reserves the right to exercise similar maritime rights off its other coasts, in line with the UNCLOS, signed on December 10, 1982.

Greece’s MSP aims to manage maritime space holistically, balancing economic development with environmental protection. It addresses a broad range of sectors, including climate resilience, sustainable tourism development, improvement and protection of maritime transport, energy resource exploitation, cultural heritage preservation, aquaculture, while encouraging cross-border cooperation.

Importantly, the MSP is not a delineation of special maritime zones. However, in mapping out the plan, Greece used the commonly accepted definition that islands do have a continental shelf, something that Turkey vehemently denies.

Ankara reacted swiftly. Both Turkey’s foreign and defense ministries condemned the MSP, with the latter calling it a “unilateral action that cannot be accepted.”

Source: pagenews.gr