Options for settling the territorial water issue

Remarks by Nikos Kotzias during the handover ceremony at the Greek Foreign Ministry last month, when the departing minister said that Athens had plans for the extension of its territorial waters in the Ionian Sea coupled with straight baseline delimitations (or bay-closing lines), generated many reactions and articles on the issues of maritime borders and the continental shelf/exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Reactions took issue with the motives behind the planned measures and their likely consequences, as well as the timing of the announcement.

Greece established the extent of its territorial sea at 6 nautical miles in 1936. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was ratified by the Greek Parliament in 1995, allows Greece to extend its territorial waters to 12 miles.

Extending a state's territorial waters is a unilateral act. This is...