[function_seven]

It's not arbitrary. You can get from France to UK without entering international waters, and without crossing waters controlled by another entity.

I don't think you can do that with Spain and Italy? To get from one to the other you'd have to go through French or Algerian waters I think.

And I might be agreeing with you; not sure here. Conversation went from rivers to lakes to "a coffee cup is the same as a donut" pretty quickly :)

[Someone]

Minorca and Sardinia give you a path that avoids other countries’ waters, it seems (https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-Hypothetical-200nm-l...)

[Retric]

Spain is the closest country to some parts of Italy. So, they limit each others economic exclusion zones. That said it’s close to 400 miles between them across open ocean. Further economic exclusion zones are a fairly recent and thus an arbitrary thing.