9831 - EEZ and macropolitics

N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Evi Charitidou

Even if there were not a single deposit in the Greek EEZ, we ought to proclaim it in this case also, on strategy grounds. Political maturity has now reached this level. However, when examining ‘Levantine’ and ‘Herodotus’ basins with their bearing analogies and similarities also with the deposits found especially in Israel and Cyprus too, we are not any longer talking about chances of finding deposits, but about a tangible reality, which consists of six deposits (five in Israel and one in Cyprus), already having 1 trillion m3 natural gas. Moreover, three out of these deposits belong to the top five of the current decade globally. Consequently, political thinking has to be fed with these data changing the older ones. Without this analysis, any geopolitical consideration of the area is mistaken. Now political thinking supplied with these economic data must take strategy decisions. For, the seriousness of the matter requires strategic planning as well. The EEZ proclamation framework is indispensable not only for Greece, but also for Cyprus. The latter has already submitted two projects for European enterprises: Interconnector EuroAsia and the pipeline. In both cases, the Greek EEZ is a necessary passage to feed the European Union. In other words, Greece de facto becomes an energy hub, but she must become this de jure as well. When political thinking additionally comprehends that we also have energy reserves which may be connected to the previous ones also through the double pipeline suggested by DEPA (Public Gas Corporation), then it will change phase. If we examine these elements at macropolitics level, we then realize that the Greek EEZ proclamation must take place as soon as possible. And after delimiting and block charting we can move on to the drilling phase. This should take place close to Albania as well in the sea area, of course, with Italy at the ‘Pyrros’ deposit, in the Ionian Sea at ‘Achilles’ one, in Southern Crete etc. All this is in the UNCLOS framework and not only does it offer us a vision, which can be materialized without any investment on the part of Greece, who simply allots sea areas, but it also offers macroeconomic growth, one that cannot be compared to any other step. With EEZ and high strategy, political thinking can reach the level of macropolitics to escape common conventionalities never leading anywhere. It is only in this way that our country will survive; by strategically taking advantage of the Greek EEZ.