In a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Greece’s permanent representative to the UN, Evangelos Sekeris, expressed Athens’ complete opposition to Libyan claims regarding the limits of its maritime zones.

According to Greek diplomatic sources, Libya wrote to Guterres on February 13 claiming maritime zones that Greece says affect its sovereign rights.

In response, Greece’s permanent representative contested the claims on April 24.

Diplomatic sources explained that the maritime borders claimed in maps appended to the Libyan letter are based on the Turkish-Libyan memorandum of 2019, "which is legally invalid".

Sekeris noted that the alleged eastern maritime border of Libya violates the Greek exclusive economic zone as delimited, in accordance with international law, by the agreement between Greece and Egypt for the delimitation of the EEZ between the two countries, signed on August 6, 2020.

Sekeris reiterated that the 2019 Turkish-Libyan maritime borders memorandum is illegal and invalid in terms of international law and the Libyan political agreement of 2015, which also requires ratification by the country’s parliament, which has not done so.

These claims, he added, on the part of Libya are in flagrant violation of international law and pose a threat to peace and stability in the Mediterranean.

The letter also noted that Athens remains willing to resolve its disputes with all neighboring countries in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In particular, it stated that “while reserving all its rights under international law, Greece remains firmly committed to resolving any delimitation issue with neighboring countries in the Eastern Mediterranean by peaceful means, in good faith and in accordance with the law of the sea, as it has already done with Italy and Egypt.”