The Maritime Zones in the Mediterranean: A Country-by-Country Presentation

Abstract

The Mediterranean Sea is bordered by twenty-two states. The maritime zones that each Mediterranean state has established and/or delimited until October 2020 by unilateral acts, bilateral agreements or in compliance with judgments rendered by international judicial organs, are listed following a country-by-country approach. The frequency of occurrence of each one of the abovementioned delimitation modes is then counted and turned into percentages. Given the Mediterranean’s spatial narrowness and subsequent close geographic relation in which the coasts of the surrounding states are located in respect with each other, not all maritime zones of all states can be extended to the maximum allowable by international law limit. Consequently, overlapping claims are common, same as are protests against delimitation exercises. The protests lodged before the United Nations are catalogued by taking -again- a country-by-country approach. The dissertation closes with a brief overview of the results of delimitations vis-à-vis third states.