‘Furious’ officials consider legal action after Greece and Cyprus break EU unity at IMO
THE European Commission is understood to be considering a potential legal infringement case against Greece and Cyprus following their abstention from a vote at the International Maritime Organization last week that delayed the adoption of the Net-Zero Framework.
Both Greece and Cyprus broke ranks from the EU position against delaying adoption of the framework, deviating from established EU protocols of ensuring a unified bloc vote of 27 member states.
Their decision to abstain from the vote left other EU states and senior officials from within the European Commission “furious”, according to several member state officials who spoke to Lloyd’s List on condition of anonymity.
The commission is waiting for a legal service opinion before considering options, however, given the vote to delay was not a written part of the coordinated position of the EU states agreed in advance, Greece and Cyprus are likely to argue they did not break EU protocols.
If an infringement case cannot be stacked up, other avenues of reprisals against Greece and Cyprus may be on the cards with state aid clearance for maritime a potential target to make a point.
Each EU member state has state aid guidelines for maritime transport covering everything from tonnage tax to social security schemes for seafarers. These have to be cleared by the European Commission.
“It was an absolute catastrophe and what they did was a disgrace,” said one EU member state representative who was present during the IMO voting.
“We can do nothing if we are not 27 and stick together, and they knew that.”
EU member states had previously agreed to support the adoption of the IMO net zero strategy and the Net-Zero Framework.
Greece, however, remains unapologetic over the unprecedented decision to not vote with fellow EU states and on Tuesday moved to remove all reference to the IMO agreement from the bloc’s joint negotiating position for this year’s COP30 climate summit.
According to reports first carried in Politico and later confirmed independently by Lloyd’s List, Athens objected to a single passage, the final paragraph of the text, that “welcome[d]” the IMO measures “as the first legally binding global sectoral climate regulation that will contribute to the reduction of emissions from shipping”.
Greece had opposed any mention of the IMO levy and rejected several attempts at compromise. With the text requiring unanimous approval from the EU’s 27 governments, the IMO reference was deleted entirely.
According to EU shipping officials this all amounts to a hardening of Greek opposition to EU climate policy in maritime that will continue to have repercussions for the EU negotiating position inside the IMO and other bodies.
Neither the European Commission nor the Greek government have responded to Lloyd’s List’s requests for comment on the issue.
Following the IMO vote, Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, published an opinion article in the Financial Times questioning the pace of decarbonisation policy and apparently contradicting established EU positions.
“While European countries still burn coal in our power plants and oil to heat our homes and factories, we are pushing for the decarbonisation of ships and planes and of the most difficult industrial processes,” Mitsotakis wrote.
“This emphasis on tackling all emissions at once is shortsighted… It is also increasingly obvious that the last few steps to achieving climate neutrality will be very expensive. We ought to tread carefully, maintain flexibility and make sure that the maths adds up,” he continued.
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