While Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides was speaking yesterday at the European Council about the crisis in the Middle East, he received a message on his mobile phone about an alert at the British Bases in Akrotiri, giving him the opportunity to explain to the 26 EU leaders how directly the regional escalation in the Middle East affects Cyprus.

The Turkey–Libya Memorandum on the delimitation of maritime zones in the Mediterranean “violates the sovereign rights of third states, does not comply with the Law of the Sea and cannot have legal consequences for third states,” the European Council’s draft conclusions, obtained by protothema, say.gr and which is of course likely to differ to some extent from the final text.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is in Brussels to participate in the European Council session today and tomorrow, where critical issues, including Ukraine, migration, and the Middle East, will dominate discussions.