Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced a proposal for a multilateral regional meeting of Mediterranean coastal states, revealed during his address to the Greek Parliament on Wednesday.
The initiative, however, is the result of extensive behind-the-scenes discussions coordinated by the American side.
This proposal has previously been raised in different configurations and with varying agendas by the EU and subsequently by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
During his speech to Parliament in a pre-agenda discussion on foreign policy, Mitsotakis outlined this initiative. According to his statement, the proposed Multilateral 5×5 Format includes five countries and five thematic areas.
It would comprise Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Turkey, and Libya. The thematic areas would cover migration, protection of the marine environment, connectivity, maritime zone delimitations, and civil protection.
Several issues emerge from the proposal that make its implementation problematic:
- First, will Turkey accept the participation of the Republic of Cyprus without raising the issue of the presence of the occupation regime, as it has done even recently? Will the Republic of Cyprus participate without the occupying power recognizing the state of Cyprus and without declaring respect for international law?
- Second, given that the Greek Prime Minister referred to trilateral and multilateral regional cooperation frameworks, why has he removed countries in the region from the equation, such as Israel and Jordan? Israeli objections have already surfaced.
- Third, there is reference to Libya’s participation without specifying which “wing” or which government would participate.
Nicosia has not, so far, reacted to this proposal. It could not be officially clarified whether the silence maintained by the Cypriot government expresses disagreement.
This will likely become apparent during the meeting between the Greek Prime Minister and President Christodoulides on Monday in Slovenia, on the sidelines of the MED-9 summit.
At first glance, however, evaluating the proposal, it appears problematic in the sense that Turkey will hardly accept the presence of the Republic of Cyprus unless Nicosia accepts the participation of the pseudo-state, which is out of the question.
Mitsotakis’s proposal, although it has precedents and has been discussed by various parties, comes at a difficult time for the region, but primarily for Greek-Turkish relations. It remains to be seen whether it will have any success or prospects, although this is doubtful.
