Greece responsibly negotiated the EU announcement regarding the Court of Arbitration’s ruling on the South China Sea. Greece believed and believes that such serious and, at the same time, long texts (475 pages in all) should be an object of serious study on the part of the competent Union institutions.
The Greek Foreign Ministry agreed with the EU announcement. Thanks to improvements that were made following proposals from the Greek side, the importance and role of international law – and, more specifically, of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea – is rightly underscored.
I believe that, following this announcement, all of the countries that are candidates for EU membership need to expressly accept the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and to have a binding commitment to join this convention and implement it. The implementation of these choices is a fundamental criterion in the EU’s negotiations with them.
July 15, 2016