Greek Parliament ratifies EEZ agreement with Egypt

The Greek parliament ratified the Greece-Egypt agreement on the delimitation of an Exclusive Economic Zone on Thursday.

It is recalled the deal was ratified by Egypt's parliament last week. “The riches of the Mediterranean have pushed some to act provocatively in the territorial waters and the economic zones related to certain countries,” Egyptian Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal said at the time.

The agreement on the EEZ was signed by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, who hastily went to Cairo three weeks ago to meet his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.

The agreement passed with 178 MPs (from New Democracy and KINAL) voting in favour during a roll call vote in the 300-member strong plenary.

81 SYRIZA opposition lawmakers voted “present.”

A total 26 MPs (from KKE and Mera25) voted against the agreement.

Fifteen deputies, including two from the conservative party and five from SYRIZA, were absent.

“The agreement with Egypt is an advantageous national agreement, a great national success which responds to the efforts of Greek diplomacy for about 17 years. So it’s a happy moment,” Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said after the signing earlier this month.

“It is a fair deal and a legal deal. And this is the important thing: it is an agreement that clearly demonstrates to the international community how illegal, unrealistic, apart from International Law and the Law of the Sea, the Turkish-Libyan Memorandum was,” he continued. The minister also urged Turkey to reach an agreement with Greece.

On Wednesday night, another agreement on the delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zones of Greece-Italy was approved by in parliament.