Cyprus to Raise Turkish Natural Gas Pipeline Plan with EU

Cyprus' Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos will discuss a Turkish plan for an undersea gas pipeline to the occupied north during the EU's foreign affairs council in Luxembourg. The pipeline, intended to run 97 kilometres under the Levantine Sea, is projected to be operational by 2028 and estimated to cost €601 million. The north views the pipeline as a means to transport eastern Mediterranean gas to Europe via Turkey. Cyprus, however, considers the memorandum of understanding between Turkey and the north illegal, and its energy planning rests on international law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.