EU foreign ministers call for potential new Turkey measures over East Med

London — EU foreign ministers have called for options to be prepared for new measures that could be taken against Turkey due to Ankara's continued gas exploration in the waters offshore Cyprus and plans to drill offshore Greece.

The EU High Representative Josep Borrell, speaking late July 13 after a meeting of the EU Council, said work would also continue on potential additions to the sanctions already in place against officials at Turkey's TPAO.

"The Council has asked that options have to be prepared on measures that could be taken in response to the challenges we are facing," Borrell said.

"Work will also continue at the technical level on additional listings within the existing sanctions framework," he said.

Turkey in April sent its Yavuz drillship back into the Cyprus exclusive economic zone and the vessel remains positioned in the northern part of Cyprus' Block 6, according to S&P Global Platts trade flow software, cFlow.

It is the sixth time that Turkish drillships have entered the Cyprus EEZ during the last year despite protests against the drilling and the imposition of EU sanctions against two TPAO officials in February.

Cyprus is already home to as much as 550 Bcm of gas resources following the Aphrodite, Calypso and Glaucus discoveries of recent years, so there is a lot to play for as the dispute over maritime rights continues to intensify.

Greek waters

Ankara raised the stakes further in June when it said it would continue with its program of drilling in the East Mediterranean and to exercise "sovereign rights" over areas of the sea it claims as being part of its maritime zone, including blocks close to the Greek islands of Rhodes, Karpathos, Kassos and Crete.

The move by Turkey to license areas also claimed by Greece followed an agreement last year between Turkey and Libya to delineate a maritime EEZ between the two countries.

The EU Council said July 13 that there was a consensus among member states that EU-Turkey relations were currently "under strain" because of worrying developments affecting the EU's interests.

"Ministers agreed that several serious issues had to be addressed by Turkey in order to change the current confrontational dynamic, and create an environment of trust," it said in its conclusions.

"Turkey's unilateral actions, in particular in the Eastern Mediterranean, which run counter to EU interests, to the sovereign rights of EU member states and to international law, must come to an end," it said.

There was also "broad support" to task the High Representative to explore further paths that could contribute to lowering tensions and reach understandings on issues that are increasingly stressing the EU-Turkey relationship.