Welcome to the weekly round-up of news by Kathimerini English Edition. American energy giant Chevron submitted a joint bid with HelleniQ Energy on Wednesday to conduct natural gas exploration surveys in two blocks south of Crete and two south of the Peloponnese.
“Chevron has a large and important position in the Eastern Mediterranean, a region which is very much a part of our future and a priority for us”, noted the company when confirming the bid.
The move is particularly notable as 20% to 25% of the two blocks south of Crete overlap with areas illegally claimed by the null and void Turkish-Libyan memorandum, with the American multinational recognizing in practice Greece’s sovereign rights over the area and disputing the MoU.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated that the bid is “the clearest proof of how our government envisions strengthening the country’s geopolitical position”, emphasizing that the bid is a strategic win and focusing on its regional dimension.
He would reiterate this position when he welcomed US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in Athens on Thursday. “It’s a very interesting coincidence that you come a day after Chevron officially submits interest to start exploratory work in areas south of Crete, confirming the sovereign rights of the Hellenic Republic in that area,” he said.
Overall, the visit of Sec. Burgum underlined the strong bilateral relations between Greece and the United States and the elevated role of the former in US energy planning, with much of the talks focusing on Greece’s role as an important point for the import and transport of American Liquefied Natural Gas to Eastern and Central Europe.
Other regional energy projects were also discussed including the Great Sea Interconnector and GREGY Interconnector, as well as the proposed corridor linking Alexandroupoli and Odesa.
Sec. Burgum stated that Greece is a “strategic partner”, adding that the “Trump administration has a couple of goals around energy, and one of those is energy abundance, so energy to our friends and our allies so they do not have to buy from our adversaries”.
The Turkish-Libyan MoU also suffered other setbacks this week, including surveys carried out by an Egyptian seismic research vessel in areas claimed by the illegal document. The research area of the Ramform Hyperion vessel even includes a maritime block awarded to Turkey’s state-run oil company TPAO by the government in Tripoli.
Athens also submitted a formal letter to the United Nations rejecting the claims submitted by the Tripoli government of Libya in recent months as illegal, as they are based on the Turkish-Libya MoU and ignore the rights of Greece’s islands.
Finally, the prime minister and Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis met with Belgacem Haftar, Director General of the Fund for the Development and Reconstruction of Libya and son of the de facto leader of eastern Libya, Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar, to discuss bilateral relations and opportunities for cooperation between the two sides. According to sources available to Kathimerini, Hafter noted that Benghazi is not scheduled to recognize the Turkish-Libyan MoU despite significant pressure by Ankara to this end.
Spotlight
- Nikos Androulakis, in his first speech in Thessaloniki as Leader of the Main Opposition Party since PASOK inherited the mantle from SYRIZA, set out his party’s economic and social priorities. He emphasized five main goals including tackling Greece’s demographic problem with the goal of stabilizing the population within the next decade, an improvement of productivity, enhancing the country’s standard of living, the reduction of inequality, and creating better working conditions for all. Androulakis also stated that if elected he would pause the Golden Visa residency permit program, saying that “the message is clear: Greece is not for sale! We will not become tenants of foreigners in our land”. Androulakis also used the opportunity to scrutinize the measures announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis last week, commenting that they are insufficient to tackle the serious problems faced by Greek society. He accused ruling New Democracy for having led to “dead ends for broad social strata…produce(d) inequalities, squander(ed) the country’s opportunities and is mired in scandals and corruption”.
- With Greece’s schools opening this week, the chronic issue of staff shortages was once again laid bare when nearly one in four newly appointed teachers requested leave immediately after receiving their long-awaited appointments. Education Minister Sofia Zacharaki described the situation as a “structural issue”, stating that due to the country’s centralized system, and Greece’s geography, there are recurring staffing gaps at the start of the school year. The most common reasons cited by teachers requesting leave was maternity, child-rearing, and high-risk pregnancies, but others declined their appointments entirely, requested unpaid leave, or asked to delay their swearing-in for serious personal reasons. These developments follow the shuttering of hundreds of schools across the country, as Greece’s birthrate continues to decline and the number of students dwindle.
