Natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean: a driver of development

The agreement between Egypt and Israel on energy cooperation certainly marks a step towards the resumption of a pragmatic relationship between the two countries. Nevertheless, it also reveals important multilateral and trans-regional reflections, as it raises this portion of the Eastern Mediterranean as a brand new and concrete energy frontier towards which different internal and external actors in the so-called enlarged Middle East have expressed interest and attention. Thus, the rich offshore oil and gas deposits could soon become an important factor of stability for the area and a potential geo-strategic game-changer also for the EU and international energy policy