Survey Ship Sails for Greece-Cyprus Cable Route, Setting Up a Test for Turkey

A French-flagged survey ship has left Italy to restart work on a contested undersea power cable linking Greece and Cyprus.

It is the first concrete step in a project that has twice stalled under Turkish

pressure, and it comes days after Ankara won a diplomatic victory in Libya.

The vessel, the Abeille Marengo, is due in the Cretan port of Heraklion on Tuesday. It is expected to begin surveying the seabed at the edge of Greek territorial waters off the island of Kasos.

That is the same stretch of sea where, in July 2024, Turkish warships shadowed an earlier survey ship and brought the work to a halt.

Greece is expected to issue a formal navigational warning setting out the survey area in early November.

The European Union-backed Great Sea Interconnector is meant to end Cyprus' energy isolation by linking its grid to the European network through Greece.

The French investment firm Meridiam now holds a majority stake, Greece's grid operator runs the project and the French cable maker Nexans is building it.

Turkey says the route crosses its continental shelf.

It points to a 2019 maritime deal with Libya, which Libya's eastern-based parliament ratified on Tuesday over objections from Greece, Cyprus and the European Union.

In Athens on Friday, Greece's energy minister, Stavros Papastavrou, and the speaker of Cyprus' parliament, Annita Demetriou, pledged to work closely to see the cable built.

The real test will come at sea.

The question is whether Ankara confines itself to diplomatic protest this time, or sends its navy again.

Διαβάστε περισσότερα στο iefimerida.gr

A French-flagged survey ship has left Italy to restart work on a contested undersea power cable linking Greece and Cyprus.

It is the first concrete step in a project that has twice stalled under Turkish pressure, and it comes days after Ankara won a diplomatic victory in Libya.

The vessel, the Abeille Marengo, is due in the Cretan port of Heraklion on Tuesday. It is expected to begin surveying the seabed at the edge of Greek territorial waters off the island of Kasos.

That is the same stretch of sea where, in July 2024, Turkish warships shadowed an earlier survey ship and brought the work to a halt.

Greece is expected to issue a formal navigational warning setting out the survey area in early November.

The European Union-backed Great Sea Interconnector is meant to end Cyprus' energy isolation by linking its grid to the European network through Greece.

The French investment firm Meridiam now holds a majority stake, Greece's grid operator runs the project and the French cable maker Nexans is building it.

Turkey says the route crosses its continental shelf.

It points to a 2019 maritime deal with Libya, which Libya's eastern-based parliament ratified on Tuesday over objections from Greece, Cyprus and the European Union.

In Athens on Friday, Greece's energy minister, Stavros Papastavrou, and the speaker of Cyprus' parliament, Annita Demetriou, pledged to work closely to see the cable built.

The real test will come at sea.

The question is whether Ankara confines itself to diplomatic protest this time, or sends its navy again.

Διαβάστε περισσότερα στο iefimerida.gr

Keywords
Τυχαία Θέματα
Survey Ship Sails, Greece-Cyprus Cable Route Setting Up,Test, Turkey