“We are trying to have a multidimensional and balanced policy in Libya, which is a difficult country,” Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis noted in an interview with the radio station “Parapolitika” on Tuesday, while emphasising that “the more we cooperate, the more we prevent the ratification of the Turkish-Libyan memorandum.”

“For the time being, I have the feeling that we are not in danger in relation to a possible ratification, but we are on alert,” he said and added:

“We understand that the Turkish-Libyan memorandum is null and void in essence. Even if we had a ratification by parliament, which I do not see in the near future, this would not make it legal, for the following simple reason: because Turkiye and Libya are not neighbouring states, like Greece and Libya.”

As he explained, “we have two governments, one in eastern and one in western Libya, and we are trying to balance the two.” 

Regarding relations with Haftar’s government, he said that they were never abandoned, on the contrary, an attempt was made to restore relations with western Libya as well.

Greece’s goal is to start an effort with Libya to demarcate the border, and he noted that a roadmap to start the discussion will be launched by the end of the year.

Recently, migratory flows from Libya have been minimised, while Greece is the only European country that is currently talking with all sides of Libya at the highest level, Gerapetritis said.

Moreover, he added, “there has been no ratification of the Turkish-Libyan memorandum, so the effort that is being made with Libya to develop our relations is totally successful for now.”

He noted that when interests are shared, anything that could create a problem is prevented.

“There are interests that are working to prevent the electrical interconnection from being implemented”

The foreign minister said that the project to build an electrical interconnection between Greece, Cyprus and ultimately Israel is an extremely important project, primarily for Cyprus because it removes its energy isolation.

“Greece has been, from the beginning, not just an assistant, but a promoter of this issue. Both the prime minister and I have made it clear in our statements that Greece wishes the project to continue and that the project will continue,” he said.

He noted that while there have been technical and economic issues in recent days regarding its viability, the President of the Republic of Cyprus “has reiterated the position that this is a project of strategic importance.”

“To the extent that certain financial and technical issues are resolved, the project will proceed in collaboration with the company that will do its planning in the immediate future,” he pointed out.