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| Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Gus Bilirakis |
With energy exploration and offshore drilling becoming an increasingly important part of the economy of Cyprus, two Florida Republicans are pushing for increased American ties with that Mediterranean nation.
Cyprus has found promising results in exploring the [Aphrodite] gas field in the eastern Mediterranean. So has Israel. From her perch as chairwoman of the U.S. House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., teamed up with U.S. Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, the chair of the U.S House Science, Space, & Technology Committee, earlier this month on a hearing on “Eastern Mediterranean Energy: Challenges and Opportunities for U.S. Regional Priorities.”
Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., noted that she joined Weber, U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, in visiting Israel and Cyprus back in June.
“Energy was a focal point of our trip and one of the major talking points we heard in both Israel and Cyprus was that the natural gas developments in the Eastern Mediterranean have the potential to be more than just an economic boost for both countries: natural gas development has the potential to drastically change the geopolitical landscape of the region,” Ros-Lehtinen said.
“While in Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli government officials told us that the democratic Jewish state was on the verge of reestablishing relations with Turkey. And just a few short weeks after our trip, Israel and Turkey announced relations had been restored; no doubt the potential to collaborate on natural gas developments played a central role in those discussions.Since the discovery of natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean, Israel’s relationships with Greece and Cyprus have improved.
“While in Cyprus, we were told that the Cypriots are working to bring the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean together to create a multilateral forum that would include Israel," Ros-Lehtinen added. “We were told by Cypriot officials that they consider themselves part of Israel’s strategic depth and plan on working closely with Israel on issues of counterterrorism, security, crime and trafficking. It was clear that energy has emerged as a key incentive that could help resolve the Cyprus problem and end Turkey’s occupation of the northern part of Cyprus. A potential pipeline carrying Cypriot and Israeli natural gas to and through Turkey could not only improve relations in the region, it could then be routed into Europe. That would help our European friends reduce their dependence on Russian energy and decrease Russian influence in Europe.
“We have yet to see the tangible contributions from Ankara regarding Cyprus reunification - an issue that is of utmost importance to this committee," she continued. “ With cheap Israeli natural gas, we can see Israel strengthening its relations with Jordan and Egypt and reshaping the traditional alliances in the region, as both nations could benefit from alternative energy sources.So the United States has a vested interest in seeing these projects in the Eastern Mediterranean come to fruition in order to bolster our partners in the region but to also bolster our own national security interests. Of course, the potential economic benefits realized by the Eastern Mediterranean nations should all these natural gas projects be developed would be immense. And it won’t just be an economic benefit to the Eastern Mediterranean nations. It was the U.S.-based company, Noble Energy, that made these potentially game changing natural gas discoveries offshore both Israel and Cyprus. Exxon has also participated in Cyprus’ latest round of licensing. As the projects expand and come online, that will create more jobs and bring in more revenue.
“But there are of course still several impediments in the way," Ros-Lehtinen said. “It would clearly be in Jordan and Egypt’s benefit to work with Israel so they can decrease their energy subsidies that heavily burden their economies in lieu of a cheaper alternative, but will they allow other political considerations to derail stronger cooperation with Israel? Are energy incentives sufficient to end Turkey’s occupation of Cyprus, or will this opportunity pass and limit the extent of energy cooperation in the region? Is Israel ready to be a regional leader and can it resolve its domestic issues favorably to allow these projects to go forward? The United States can play a pivotal role in resolving some of these issues. We want to hear what positive steps the administration is taking to encourage these projects to go forward, and how, if at all, we are providing support to Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, and even Noble Energy, to get these ambitious projects online and benefiting the region. We want to know how these issues factor in the administration’s foreign policy when it comes to these nations and the regions. Because the Eastern Mediterranean natural gas discoveries can drastically reshape the region and benefit so many of our allies.”
Bilirakis also called for more ties, insisting energy exploration could help Cyprus as well as Greece rebound from their economic collapses.
“The energy potential of this region furthers U.S. interests by making allies and strategic partners energy independent, by helping Greece and Cyprus out of their economic crises, by stabilizing Egypt and Jordan, and by incentivizing Turkey to avoid destabilizing behavior in the region,” Bilirakis said. “If this cooperation continues and expands to include other regional actors, natural gas could bring the region together the way coal and steel brought Europe together after World War II.”
Bilirakis doubled down on that line of thought this week when he and Maloney, his fellow co-chair of the Congressional Hellenic Issues Caucus, met with incoming U.S. Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt who starts his new assignment later this month.
“I was very encouraged by our meeting between newly-appointed U.S. Ambassador to Greece Geoff Pyatt to Greece and Hellenic Caucus members,” Bilirakis said on Wednesday. “Having previously served as our ambassador to the Ukraine, Ambassador Pyatt is no stranger to challenges and will bring a wealth of experience to his new post. I am confident that he will continue to represent the United States abroad to his utmost, and I look forward to working with him to ensure our longtime strategic ally in the Eastern Mediterranean, Greece, is the beneficiary of economic, energy, and defense security that is fostered by the United States and other regional allies like Israel and Cyprus.”
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