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Greece does not wait for negotiations! It makes it a fait accompli and officially defines the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone of the sea

2025-04-16 17:05:51Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Greece does not wait for negotiations! It makes it a fait accompli and
Map presented by Greek authorities for the delimitation of the continental shelf

In a development that its southern neighbors have called historic, Greece has for the first time officially defined the potential outermost limits of its continental shelf, through the National Maritime Spatial Planning. "This is an institutional act with a clear geopolitical, legal and energy footprint, which is part of a long-term strategy to strengthen national sovereignty at sea," the neighboring country's media reported.

Maritime Spatial Planning is a strategic management tool for maritime space, provided for by European Directive 2014/89/EU. "For Greece, its preparation goes beyond the framework of a technocratic process. Through it, the country systematically records all the maritime areas in which it exercises or intends to exercise sovereign rights: territorial waters, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf. For the first time, the outermost limits of the Greek continental shelf, drawn using the median line methodology, are recorded on a map and in an official state document," the Greek authorities announced.

According to the International Law of the Sea, and in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the continental shelf exists ipso facto and ab initio - that is, automatically and from the beginning. No act of declaration or agreement is required for its existence. The coastal state has sovereign rights over the seabed and subsoil beyond its territorial waters, even if there has been no formal delimitation of boundaries. Greece, as a member state of UNCLOS, says it fully implements this legal principle. "By registering the external boundaries in the Maritime Spatial Planning, it does not create new rights, but preserves those already provided for by the international legal order," official Athens claims.

"The definition of the outer limits of the Greek continental shelf takes on a double significance: on the one hand, it consolidates, with an official state document, Greece's legal position regarding the extent of its maritime zones; on the other hand, it sends a clear message in every direction regarding the extent of Greek sovereign rights. It is a text that creates political evidence, strengthens legal arguments against third countries and can serve as a reference in possible international legal procedures or border delimitation negotiations," Greek media say about this development.

"The mapping of external borders acts as a barrier against revisionist approaches, such as that of Turkey, which refuses to recognize full influence over Greek islands such as Kastellorizo, Rhodes, Karpathos or Crete. At the same time, it legally and geographically dismantles the 2019 Turkish-Libyan memorandum, which defines maritime borders while completely ignoring the Greek continental shelf. Greece, through Spatial Planning, returns to an institutional basis and clearly declares that it will not accept facts committed outside the framework of international law," Greek media report.

It remains unclear how this development affects the maritime division talks between Albania and Greece. It also remains unclear whether there have been negotiations with the Albanian side, which most likely did not happen as the Greek authorities present this development as a fait accompli.

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