A central role for Greece and the 3+1 regional cooperation scheme with , and provided for by the “Eastern Mediterranean Gateway Act” bill, which is being promoted in the US as part of the broader strategy for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
The text of the law calls on American diplomacy to upgrade the Eastern Mediterranean to a stable foreign policy priority, recognizing Greece as the key entry point of the corridor to the European continent and the 3+1 scheme as the foundation of security, energy cooperation and geopolitical stability in the region.
In particular, the specific bill entitled “Eastern Mediterranean Gateway Act” aspires to institutionalize the Eastern Mediterranean as a strategic gateway to the emerging IMEC corridor through the inclusion of the region in US connectivity and security planning.
The vote held in the International Affairs Committee now gives new impetus to the bill, as it paves the way for its submission to the House of Commons.
However, given that 2026 is a midterm election year, the House is expected to deal almost exclusively with bills related to the general government budget and the Pentagon.
Therefore, it is estimated that the bill will eventually be incorporated as an amendment to one of the two main bills related to the financing of the government.
What the Eastern Mediterranean Gateway Act Provides
The bipartisan proposal by Rep. Brad Snyder, a Democrat, and Gus Bilirakis, a Republican, focuses on deepening US energy and defense cooperation with key countries, including India, Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Egypt, and connecting their critical infrastructure to the broader IMEC axis.
At the heart of the bill are specific energy projects characterized by strategic importance. These include the Great Sea Interconnector, the Greece-Egypt electricity interconnection (GREGY), the Greece-Bulgaria natural gas pipeline, as well as the new LNG terminals.
These projects are presented as critical pillars both for Europe’s energy security and for the functionality of the corridor that aspires to connect India, the Gulf and the European continent.
The text of the law calls on the US Secretary of State to upgrade the Eastern Mediterranean to a stable priority of US foreign policy, to actively support existing cooperation schemes with an emphasis on 3+1 (Greece, Cyprus, Israel and the US) and to strengthen the role of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum.
At the same time, the bill moves in the same vein as the Israel Normalization Act of 2022 and promotes regional convergence through strengthening diplomatic and economic ties, including the Abraham Accords.
It also provides for the submission of annual reports to Congress on the implementation of the law, the development of multilateral initiatives and the progress of projects in the energy and defense sectors.
In the same context, a feasibility study is requested for the creation of bilateral cooperation programs with Eastern Mediterranean countries, based on the model of the existing Greek-Israeli schemes in areas such as agriculture, technology, security and science, with the possibility of their extension to other countries participating in IMEC open.
Special mention is made of the Cypriot security center CYCLOPS, which is proposed as an example of regional cooperation, as well as the recent presidential decree by which Cyprus joins American defense equipment programs.
Finally, the bill states that within one year of its enactment, the Secretary of State must inform the appropriate congressional committees of any multilateral initiative between the US and IMEC countries. At the same time, and in coordination with the Ministry of Homeland Security, an assessment of the operation of CYCLOPS as a possible model for wider multilateral cooperation should be presented.
