Greece on Wednesday announced plans for managing human activities in maritime areas, such as tourism, offshore energy drilling, fishing and environmental protection, irking neighboring Turkey, which said the plans encroach on its jurisdiction.
The announcement about Greece’s Maritime Spatial Planning came after the country was rebuked by the European Court of Justice earlier this year for failing to submit the plans to the European Commission, as all coastal European Union member states are required to do. Spatial planning for sea areas is considered necessary for the sustainable use of marine resources, setting out where activities such as transport, tourism, fishing and renewable energy projects can take place, and for the protection of marine environments.
