New provocative action from Libya which has testified since May 27 verbal to the UN with which he denounces the maritime spatial planning of Greece.
Libya, in this verbal decoration he has submitted to the UN, is clearly moving to the Turkish line, while citing earlier letters he has sent to the United Nations.
At the same time, she challenges Greece’s maritime spatial planning, saying that she has no power for Libya and presents her own, including the illegal Turkolibyan memorandum.
He even considers that the Greece -Egyptian demarcation is invalid and illegal and complains that Greece’s maritime spatial planning violates Libya’s maritime jurisdictions in the Mediterranean.
In a provocative disposition, Libya argues that “neither Greece nor Egypt have sovereign rights in the maritime areas that are bounded between Libya and Turkey in accordance with international law.”
It also adopts the logic that the islands, such as Crete, are not entitled to a continental shelf and an exclusive economic zone while reaching the point of questioning the Greece-Italy agreement on an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Ionian Sea.
“The southern part of the declared Greek EEZ in the Ionian Sea is illegal to the extent that it ignores Libya’s sovereign rights in the relevant maritime area and violates the Libyan continental shelf in the Mediterranean Sea,” he said.
See the maritime spatial planning submitted by Libya to the UN
“First, Libya and Turkey signed a memorandum of agreement on the demarcation of maritime jurisdiction in the Mediterranean Sea on November 27, 2019. This Memorandum of Understanding was firmly submitted to the United Nations Secretariat in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter on December 11, 2019 and is a fair solution reached under international law.
Neither Greece, nor Egypt have sovereign rights in maritime areas bordered between Libya and Turkey in accordance with international law.
Secondly, Libya considers that the 2020 agreement on the demarcation of exclusive economic zones between Greece and Egypt is invalid as it is incompatible with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in particular with the principle of euphoria.
Greece and Egypt’s efforts to designate and licensed areas for activities related to hydrocarbon surveys in 2014 and 2021 respectively, and more recently, in April 2024, Greece’s approval of hydrocarbon surveys south of Crete are violating the Libyan Sea.
In particular, Greece continues its unilateral research and drilling activities in these so -called offshore licensing areas from November 26, 2022, fully ignoring Libya’s sovereign rights and seriously violating the established rules and practices of international law, continental shelf between states with object shores.
Thirdly, some of the areas of the Greek marine spatial plan (MSS), as stated by the Greek Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Greece, dated April 16, 2025, violate Libya’s maritime jurisdiction.
Specifically, some areas in the southern part of the Greek BSE map violate the Libyan shelf in the Mediterranean Sea, where Libya has IPSO Facto and Ab Initio sovereign rights and jurisdiction in accordance with international law.
I would like to emphasize that the Greek BSE will have no legal effect for Libya.
Fourthly, Greece declared an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Ionian Sea on April 17, 2025, with the 59 GG of the same day, which violates the continental shelf of the Libyan state, where Libya has IPSO Facto and Ab Initio. The southern border of the unilaterally proclaimed Greek EEZ are not equal to the continental coasts of Libya and Greece. Consequently, the southern part of the declared Greek EEZ in the Ionian Sea is illegal to the extent that it ignores Libya’s sovereign rights in the relevant maritime area and violates the Libyan continental shelf in the Mediterranean Sea.
It is well known, international law encourages states to make every effort to conclude temporary practical regulations and not endanger or prevent the final agreement on the delineation of the continental shelf and the EEZ. Therefore, the unilateral proclamation of the Greek EEZ in the Ionian Sea, in violation of the Libyan continental shelf, contradicts the established principles of international law.
Libya completely rejects the illegal and maximalist claims on the maritime borders of Greece and Egypt, as well as the offshore areas licensed in the Mediterranean Sea, based on these claims.
Libya maintains all its legal rights over marine areas, including the seabed, subsoil and the overlying waters with which they are linked, derived from international law. “
Tripoli’s verbal decoration emphasizes “the maritime borders between Libya and Egypt are depicted in accordance with the verbal diarrhea of the Libyan permanent delegation in the United Nations dated 13 February 2023 to the Secretary -General of the United Nations, with which the UK was submitted to the UK.
In terms of Libya, the maritime border between Libya and Greece will reflect the midline between the coasts of the two continental coasts from a geographical point of view. In this respect, as supported by numerous examples of jurisprudence and practice of the states, there can be no automation in the claim that the islands create areas of full maritime jurisdiction.
The islands can be ignored or have limited influence on the demarcation of marine borders if their position distorts fair delineation or if there are other specific circumstances. This maritime demarcation must also respect both Libya’s national legislation and the 2019 Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the government of the National Agreement of the Libyan State (Saraz government) on the demarcation of the areas.
Therefore, according to the list of coordinates of the maritime borders, the northern limits of the Libyan continental shelf from the east to west start from points B and A, which are the eastern and west points of the maritime borders agreed between Libya and Libya. Continental coasts of Libya and Greece, which extends from points 1 to 12.
Starting from point 12, the maritime borders follow the midline between the Italian mainland, including the island of Sicily, and the Libyan mainland with the straight base line at the mouth of the Gulf of Syrtis, which is a historical Gulf under Libyan.
Point 17 extends south to point 18, where the continental shelf borders begin between Libya and Malta according to a decision issued by the International Court of Justice in 1985 (Continental Shelf (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Malta), which extends to point 28. From there, the sea limit extends north to the point 29 and follows it 29 Island of Sicily and continental Libya to point 30.
The maritime boundary between points 30 and 32 to the land border between Libya and Tunisia depicts the limits of the continental shelf between Libya and Tunisia, as set out by the International Court of Justice by a decision issued in 1982 (contamination (Tunisia/Libyan).
Libya, which has IPSO and IPSO Facto sovereign rights over its continental shelf in the Mediterranean Sea, believes that the maritime borders between two sovereign states should be finalized through dialogue and negotiations in accordance with international law and the principle of Euphoria. The peaceful means provided for in Article 33 of the United Nations Charter, including the International Court of Justice, should apply under mutual agreement. In this context, the Libyan government is ready to participate in negotiations with all neighboring coastal states on the basis of mutual respect for the legal rights and interests of all parties to delineate maritime borders in accordance with international law.
In the same vein, Libya also calls on Egypt and Greece to suspend all licenses and activities on hydrocarbon research in those areas until all the differences in maritime borders are settled through negotiations between the parties concerned and by valid agreements in accordance with international law. “