By Athanasios Pitatzis

In today’s article we will try to introduce a new military plan for the safety of the whole Mediterranean which will involve the whole EU, Greek and Cyprus as EU state members, Israel, Lebanon and of course Egypt.

Libya ISIS Rebels threats Maritime Security on Central Mediterranean

According to the Dailymail and abcnews since February 2015 ISIS Rebel have taken control of many ports of Libya. This can create a serious dangerous for maritime security in the region the next months – years. When Libya rebels establish their power in the Libya then will turn their attention to the sea and how they can interfere. This move can have many implications, such as:

•  Attack on commercial ships
• Attack in passenger ships
• Increase the illegal immigrants flow rate on Crete, Sicily, Cyprus, Malta and even Egypt and Israel
• Threat the security of the exist and future infrastructure of oil and gas in the region
• Threat the energy flow for the European Union which transfer through Suez

It is obvious that EU members and South East Mediterranean countries cooperation is needed to prevent the possible threats that will appear in the future. Already Egypt and Italy call the international community to interfere to the Libya civil war, before the situation is irreversible.

Source of the photo: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2958786/Libya-s-ISIS-fighters-start-attacking-burn-unIslamic-drums-desert.html

Source of the photo: https://www.marinetraffic.com/gr/

Source of the photo: https://www.marinetraffic.com/gr/

So from the above photos we can conclude that the ships don’t approach close to Libya and if we have and terrorists attack in the sea, then the safe trade in the region is in dangerous.

South East Mediterranean Countries-EU military Naval Task force

The last month the whole west focus on Iran nuclear deal and in the situation in Yemen but the situation in Libya seems worse than that in Yemen. So maybe we have two possible global threats for maritime security on two specific regions.
Our proposal is a common military force which will operate in the region until the situation in Libya is under control and the sea safe trade is guaranteed.

The countries which will participate in this military force are EU members (for sure Greece, Cyprus, France, Italy, Spain and Germany), Egypt, Lebanon and Israel.

Mistral-class amphibious assault ship

According to the Defense Industry Daily on a post of 4th March 2015 France will soon have a second built-for-Russia Mistral class helicopter carrier on its hands. The first, the Vladivostok, is biding its time while France waits for a period during which Russia does not appear to be acting war-like against European allies. The second, the Sevastopol, should start sea trials external link later this month.

Source of the photo: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/russia-to-order-french-mistral-lhds-05749/

Due to the situation on Ukraine. France can’t give these ships to Russia. Recently EU officials claim that EU needs a European army, so our proposal is based on that is:

We must create two small military naval task forces with flagships these two Mistrals. The costs for EU to buy these ships from France can be covered direct from European Commission. The capabilities of these ships allow them to operate as a center of operations. More specific according to the Wikipedia a Mistral-class ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 NH90 or Tiger helicopters, four landing barges, up to 70 vehicles including 13 AMX-56 Leclerc tanks, or a 40-strong Leclerc tank battalion, and 450 soldiers. The ships are equipped with a 69-bed hospital, and are capable of serving as part of a NATO Response Force, or with United Nations or European Union peace-keeping forces.

West EU Military Naval Task Force

Number of ships: 8-10
Flagship of the fleet: One of the two Mistrals
Area of operations: West and Central Mediterranean
Countries participation: France, Germany, Spain and Italy

East EU Military Naval Task Force – Participation of Israel, Egypt and Lebanon

Number of ships: 8-10
Flagship of the fleet: One of the two Mistrals
Area of operations: East and Central Mediterranean
Countries participation: Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel and Lebanon

Conclusion

The situation on Libya give an opportunity to EU to show unity and solidarity to state members like Greece which is in a very difficult economic situation. EU can create a common army by establishing these two small military naval task forces in cooperation with Egypt, Israel and Lebanon.
Finally USA involvement with a battle cruise aircraft carrier can establish an ultimate safety in the region in cooperation with the two military naval task forces which we propose above.

Athanasios Pitatzis

Assistant Director – Oil and Gas Analyst for CyprusGasNews

Production and Management Engineer, Democritus University of Thrace, 2014-2015 Postgraduate student in TEI Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (Kavala) in the Masters of Science in Oil and Gas Technology (http://msc.petrotech.teikav.edu.gr/). I write articles on Greece within a variety of internet web portals in the fields of Geostrategy, Geoenergy and energy policy. Also I possess a Certificate-Seminar E-Learning on Geopolitics and Security Issues in the Islamic Complex Turkey-Middle East from Ethnikon and Kapodistriakon University of Athens. Member of Society of Petroleum Engineers, SPE Section of Kavala (http://www.spe-kavala.org/ ) (http://spe.org/ )

It was first published firstly on Cyprus Gas News, this is the link: http://www.cyprusgasnews.com/archives/7983/eu-member-states-usaegyptisrael-and-lebanon-join-forces-to-secure-the-whole-mediterranean/