In response to the Turkish gas exploration off Cyprus, which is considered illegal, EU foreign ministers want to adopt punitive measures in Brussels for the first time today. One of the plans is to stop negotiations on an aviation agreement. In addition, EU aid could be cut and lending by the European Investment Bank curtailed.
The EU wants to use sanctions to force Turkey to stop its natural gas search in Cyprus. However, Turkey takes the view that the waters in which it is active belong to its continental shelf. It has occupied the north of Cyprus since 1974 and intends to use the drilling to secure the shares of the Turkish Cypriots in the natural gas business.
Next search for solutions in migration
Another topic of the Foreign Ministers‘ Meeting is the dispute over the treatment of refugees who are rescued from unseaworthy boats in the Mediterranean. Italy’s Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi has announced that he intends to come forward with new proposals for a solution.
The background of the dispute in the EU is that there is still no system for the equitable distribution of refugees due to the resistance of countries such as Poland and Hungary. As a country where most migrants arrive by boat, Italy feels abandoned by the other EU states and has repeatedly refused to let ships with refugees into Italian ports.
