Italy Accuses Algeria Of Expanding Its Territorial Waters At The Expense Of Sardinia!

An Italian newspaper said that the Rome authorities lodged a formal protest with the United Nations in which it accused Algeria of practicing unilateral maritime expansion at the expense of Italy in the maritime zone separating Sardinia and the eastern coast of Algeria, or what is known as the Exclusive Economic Zone (ZEE).

The right-wing Italian newspaper “Il Giornale” reported that Algeria “stole the sea waters from Italy and was sending harraga or illegal migrants to Sardinia,” explaining that Algeria, on March 28, 2018, had unilaterally expanded its maritime borders known as the exclusive economic sea zone (ZEE) near the island of Sardinia.

The Italian newspaper pointed out that the incident had been raised by the former president of Sardinia, Mauro Pelli, but it went unnoticed according to it, but the issue has been raised again recently, and it could have significant repercussions notably at the political level.

The newspaper thus highlighted the issue related to alleged Algerian ambitions in the maritime region opposite to Sardinia, noting that this issue is similar to the Turkish-Libyan agreement that extended the exclusive maritime economic zone at the expense of the territorial waters of other Mediterranean countries.

According to the same source, Algeria has expanded its maritime borders within the exclusive economic zone through a presidential decree signed on March 21, 2018, and has drawn new borders for the exclusive economic zone (ZEE).

The newspaper also claimed that Algeria, through this decree, grabbed with a stroke of a pen a part of the sea waters in front of the territorial waters of Sardinia, noting that the process appeared a few weeks ago, but was kept secret in Italy.

The Italian newspaper also indicated that this Algerian expansion into the sea at the expense of Rome has political as well as economic dimensions in the first place, because it will limit Italy and Sardinia’s exploitation of natural resources in this marine region located in international waters, which is officially close to the Italian region.

The same source commented, “For example, a fisherman from Alghero or Oristano (cities in Sardinia) could be accused by Algeria of compromising the sea resources he acquires if he is found on a boat about 13 nautical miles away from Sardinia”.

The Italian politician and former president of the Sardinia Mauro Pelli revealed that the Italian governments closed their eyes to this issue and remained in a state of sleep, and there was no movement except in the past few weeks where an official protest was lodged with the United Nations, noting that despite the Algerian decree entering into force more than a year and a half ago, however, the issue was not raised in the meetings of officials of the governments of the two countries, and according to Mauro Bailey, the United Nations has not yet issued any response to the formal Italian protest.

According to the newspaper, Algeria’s goals behind this unilateral maritime expansion are not only limited to fishing resources, but also those related to energy and the file of immigration, and stressed that Italy should not abandon its sovereignty over the maritime zone separating Sardinia and Algeria.
The Italian newspaper concluded by noting that this Algerian unilateral move to expand its maritime borders to become adjacent to Sardinia, could show Italy as the weakest country in the Mediterranean and a marginal number in what is known as “Marie Nostrum” meaning “the sea by our sea or (“a navigable expanse of water (such as a sea) that belongs to a single nation or is mutually shared by two or more nations”).