EU leaders pave the way for sanctions against Turkey over East Med gas drilling
Europe’s leaders agreed late on Thursday to pave the way for sanctions against Turkey over its illegal drillings off the coasts of Greece and Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to a decision published early on Friday morning, following the EU27 leaders’ summit in Brussels.
The final text of the summit’s conclusions, that could penalise individuals and companies involved in the gas exploration activities in the region with EU travel bans and asset freezes, embittered Athens, which was pushing for tougher measures that could severely impact the Turkish economy, including an arms embargo or trade tariffs.
Prior to the meeting, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated that EU’s credibility was “at stake,” recalling that his counterparts had promised consequences during October’s summit, should Ankara continued its provocations.
However, any tougher measures against Ankara will have to wait until the next EU summit, scheduled for March, as the EU leaders tasked the bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell and the Commission with preparing a report on the state of play concerning the EU-Turkey political, economic and trade relations and with “instruments and options on how to proceed.”
These could include the extension of the scope of the listings for restrictive measures, which are already in place since 2019, but include so far only two members of Turkey’s state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO).
After giving Turkey another three months to reconsider its stance, the EU leaders also urged the country to de-escalate tensions in the region, in a bid to allow for the early resumption and “smooth” continuation of direct exploratory talks with Athens, which have frozen after Turkey sent its research vessel Oruc Reis in the Greek continental shelf. In the meantime, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Athens of “constantly” avoiding dialogue with Ankara and of pursuing a lobby policy.
The issue of Cyprus’ abandoned coastal city of Varosha was also included in the summit’s conclusions, with the heads of state and government of the EU condemning Turkey’s “unilateral” moves and reiterating their support to the comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus’ conundrum based on the UN-backed solution for a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with a single international legal status.
Since tensions escalated among the three countries, the EU has adopted a carrot and stick approach over Turkey’s provocations; whilst threatening Ankara with economic restrictions, they also offered trade and customs benefits as a sign of a good will in EU-Turkey relations, if it halts its activities in the Eastern Mediterranean. The offer was reiterated in the EU Council conclusions, which stressed the importance of keeping channels of communication between the EU and Turkey open.
