Fisheries law

A protest against the ratification of CETA - the trade agreement between Canada and the European Union.

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union. It has been provisionally applied, thus removing 98% of the preexisting tariffs between the two parts.

Even as US President Donald Trump had a telephone communication with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Washington appears to have adopted a Janus-faced stance in dealing with the Greek-Turkish dispute in the Eastern Mediterranean as it has refused to take a stand on the legality or illegality of Turkey's massive encroachment on Greece's EEZ especially around Crete.

The German Parliament's legal committee has questioned the validity of the maritime boundaries agreement signed between Turkey and Libya's UN-backed government in November.

An agreement on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea signed between Turkey and Libya's internationally-recognized government is "unhelpful and provocative," a spokesman from the US State Department has said, adding that Ankara's claims are contrary to international law which stipulates that inhabited islands are on the same footing as mainland coastline in the delineation of exclusive e

On a symbolic trip to the island of Kasos, which Turkish Air Force jets have repeatedly flown over of late as it gets in the way of Ankara's EEZ designs, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis indicated that he wants a dialogue with Turkey but not under threat.

With Turkish provocations escalating in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranen there is a growing debate in Greece about taking differences to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

That is a long and arduous road as it presupposes that the two sides agree about what will be adjudicated out of Turkey's long list of demands and challenges to Greek sovereignty.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held a phone conversation with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Dec. 24.

No details of the phone conversation were revealed.

Recently Turkey's agenda, along with other countries, has been dominated with the deal Ankara struck with Tripoli last month.

The EU Council adopted a regulation on catch limits for certain species in the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea for the coming year. For Bulgaria and Romania, these restrictions apply to species known as sprat and turbot.

Next year, Bulgaria and Romania will be allowed to fish for turbot, totaling 150 tonnes (75 tonnes per country), which is 32 percent more than the amount allowed so far. This was announced by the press center of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

France's new ambassador to Greece, Patrick Maisonnave, calls for cooperation on multiple levels between Athens and Paris on issues ranging from security to investment in his first interview in Greece.