The Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) and the American-Jewish Committee (AJC) expressed their joint satisfaction with the “Eastern Mediterranean Security and Partnership Act” tabled by Senators Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) and Marco Rubio (R-Florida) on Tuesday in the U.S. Senate.

The specific act, which seeks to deepen the interest of US diplomacy in the Eastern Mediterranean and proceed with a substantial revision of US strategy in light of the new reality that have emerged in the region, serves to make Greece a focus of US strategic interests.

As noted in their announcement, the two organisations support this bill as “over the last six years, AJC and HALC have been in favour of a more comprehensive US strategy in the Eastern Mediterranean. The two teams collaborated on the creation of the Hellenic-Israeli Alliance and for many other political initiatives in the region. Both AJC and HALC enthusiastically support the Bill on the Security and Energy Cooperation in Eastern Mediterrannean 2019 and will seek its approval by Congress.

Meanwhile, it is the first time in the history of the US Parliament that an act calls for the US Secretary of State to submit a list to Congress giving the number of violations of Greek airspace and the Republic of Cyprus EEZ. In addition, the same bill calls for the lifting of the US arms embargo on the Republic of Cyprus.