Greece’s ambassador to the UN, Aglaia Balta, briefed the Security Council on Wednesday, in closed consultations, on Tuesday’s ratification by eastern Libya’s parliament of the maritime memorandum with Turkey, signed in 2019. On instructions from Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, she spoke of risks to security in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is a briefing. It is not a Council resolution, and it does not cancel the memorandum.

eKathimerini, via AMNA, writes that the deal has been rejected by the European Union, Israel and Egypt. Also on Wednesday, High Representative Kaja Kallas reiterated to Hakan Fidan in Brussels that the document “infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states.”

The EU Council published, the same day, a statement on behalf of the Union: it regrets the 20 October ratification, restates the 2019 and June 2025 conclusions and holds the memorandum “null and void,” without legal consequences for third states. That is the EU’s position. It is not a Security Council judgment.

The memorandum was signed in 2019 by the internationally recognised Government of National Accord, based in western Libya. Tuesday’s ratification came from the eastern House, backed by commander Khalifa Haftar. Two administrations, an old text. Greece, To Vima reported, rejects it as illegal, arguing that Turkey and Libya do not have opposite or adjacent coasts that would justify the delimitation.

Costa and von der Leyen had already regretted the vote on Tuesday, with solidarity for Greece and Cyprus. Kallas, in the same message after Fidan, also spoke of the Black Sea and Cyprus. Those are other files. The New York briefing is about the Eastern Mediterranean and about a memorandum ratified, not judged at the UN.

Source consulted: Greece informs UN on Turkey-Libya maritime deal, its dangers — eKathimerini.

Image: the Security Council chamber, UN Headquarters, New York, 6 September 2024, James D. Forrester, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. An empty chamber, not Wednesday’s consultations.

Sources consulted: Statement by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on the Libya–Türkiye MoU ratification — Council of the EU.