France rejects legality of Turkey-Libya memorandum
Turkey’s agreement with Libya for potential energy exploration in maritime areas “is not in accordance with international law of the sea,” the French Foreign Ministry reiterated on Friday.
“Our position on the memorandum of understanding signed between Turkey and the Libyan Government of National Accord in 2019 remains unchanged. This infringes the sovereign rights of Member States of the European Union, does not comply with the international law of the sea and cannot have legal consequences for third states,” a ministry spokesperson told a daily briefing, in a response to a question on the matter
“The European Council of December 2019 spoke clearly on this subject.”
On Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron urged his Turkish counterpart to respect international law.
In a meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Prague on the sidelines of the first session of the European Political Community, the French president expressed his “concern” about the situation in the Aegean and “called for the resumption of dialogue between the sides in order to avoid escalation and preserve respect for international law.”
