The undersea electricity cable linking Cyprus to mainland Greece will finally end the island’s decades-long energy isolation, the Greek prime minister declared yesterday, as he used the announcement of a new investor in the project to deliver a pointed rebuke to Turkey.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the arrival of the French investment group Meridiam as majority shareholder in the Great Sea Interconnector would inject fresh financial and technical momentum into the long-delayed scheme, which is intended to connect Cyprus to the European electricity network via Crete.
The prime minister used the occasion to address mounting Turkish objections to Greece’s renewable energy planning framework in the Aegean, dismissing as baseless Ankara’s revived claims of so-called “grey zones” in the region.
Greece’s position, he said, was unchanging: Athens acted strictly within international law, would continue to exercise its lawful rights, and would not permit threats or unlawful claims to shape its decisions.
Mr Mitsotakis added that Greece remained ready for dialogue with Turkey and continued to seek good neighbourly relations — but insisted that a willingness to talk should not be mistaken for a readiness to retreat.
