Athens and Cairo seek to adjust EEZ boundary coordinates east towards Cyprus

Greece and Egypt have agreed to advance bilateral consultations aimed at extending the geographical scope of their 2020 Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) agreement eastwards towards Cyprus, following eastern Libya’s parliament’s reported ratification of a contested maritime boundary memorandum with Turkey. During high-level discussions between Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, both sides reaffirmed their shared commitment to international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), while formally rejecting the move by the Libyan legislature. The latest diplomatic developments follow a vote by Libya’s House of Representatives to approve and ratify the controversial 2019 maritime memorandum, originally signed between Ankara and Tripoli’s then Government of National Accord (GNA). The Libyan parliament also repealed earlier resolutions dating back to 2020 that had rejected agreements with Ankara and severed political ties with Turkey. The vote followed a formal briefing by Libya’s Higher National Committee for Land and Maritime Borders, established under Decision No. 40 of 2026. Greece, Egypt and Cyprus have consistently maintained that the 2019 Turkish-Libyan agreement infringes upon their sovereign rights and disregards fundamental principles of maritime law, particularly regarding the maritime zones generated by Greek islands such as Crete and Rhodes. Athens and Cairo are looking to make use of existing legal provisions within their bilateral maritime agreement, signed in Cairo on August 6, 2020 and brought into force on September 2, 2020. While the 2020 treaty established a partial delimitation between the two countries, it explicitly contains mechanisms allowing the coordinates of its eastern terminal point, known as Point A, to be adjusted further east through mutual agreement, particularly in conjunction with neighbouring coastal states. Gerapetritis confirmed that any expansion of the Greece-Egypt boundary would proceed in strict adherence to UNCLOS, establishing a legal framework to counter unilateral delimitation claims in the energy-rich waters of the Eastern Mediterranean. The renewed coordination between Greece and Egypt also draws attention to the wider implications for the Eastern Mediterranean’s energy and maritime sectors, where offshore energy projects, seabed connectivity and commercial shipping lanes intersect with competing maritime jurisdictional claims. Egypt, which previously defined its western maritime boundary with Libya by presidential decree in late 2022, continues to align its regional strategy with Athens and Nicosia to safeguard maritime stability. At the same time, while Ankara has sought to improve diplomatic relations with Cairo in recent years, the Libyan parliament’s endorsement of the Turkish pact has brought maritime jurisdiction back to the forefront of regional diplomacy. For Cyprus, the potential extension of the Greek-Egyptian EEZ eastwards is particularly significant, given its position within the wider Eastern Mediterranean energy and maritime network. Such an extension would reinforce legal certainty for offshore exploration, subsea energy infrastructure and maritime governance across the corridor linking Greece, Egypt and Cyprus.