US lawmakers back Great Sea Interconnector in Congress

The intervention in Washington comes at a critical juncture for the project, just days after an agreement was signed in Athens for French investment group Meridiam to become the majority shareholder in Great Sea Interconnector.The bipartisan initiative was led by Democratic Representative Brad Schneider and his Republican colleague Gus Bilirakis, who addressed the letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and DFC head Ben Black. Representatives Jake Auchincloss, Dan Goldman, Craig Goldman and Haley Stevens also co-signed the letter.

They argue that Washington has a clear interest in developing infrastructure that strengthens its partners, diversifies energy routes and deepens regional cooperation. At the same time, they present such projects as an alternative to infrastructure controlled by the United States' strategic competitors.According to the letter, interconnecting the electricity grids of Greece, Cyprus and Israel will create an energy axis between key US partners.

The lawmakers particularly highlight that the project will help end Cyprus's energy isolation, strengthen Israel's security of supply and enable two-way flows of electricity between Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean.The lawmakers also place particular emphasis on the geopolitical difficulties surrounding the project's completion. At the end of the letter, they ask the Trump administration for a classified briefing to discuss the "geopolitical challenges" relating to its completion.

The authors of the letter also place the GSI within the broader framework of the Eastern Mediterranean Gateway Act, the bipartisan legislative initiative introduced by Schneider and Bilirakis in May 2025.

The bill recognises the Eastern Mediterranean as a key gateway to IMEC and explicitly refers to the Great Sea Interconnector among the energy infrastructure projects that could provide the basis for connecting India and the Gulf to Europe.

The initiative has already been approved at the House Foreign Affairs Committee level, while corresponding progress has also been made in the Senate, strengthening the bipartisan dimension of efforts for greater US engagement in the Eastern Mediterranean.Against this backdrop, the lawmakers present the project as part of a broader architecture linking energy security in the Eastern Mediterranean, IMEC and US geoeconomic competition with other major powers.