ATHENS — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis lashed out at his British counterpart Rishi Sunak on Monday in what would look like a bitter escalation of a long-running dispute over the Parthenon Marbles.
The 2 have been scheduled to satisfy on Tuesday, however Sunak referred to as off their assembly late on Monday, a transfer Greek authorities officers attribute to Mitsotakis’ current sturdy insistence upon the return of the traditional sculptures from the British Museum.
“I specific my annoyance that the British prime minister cancelled our deliberate assembly simply hours earlier than it was because of happen,” Mitsotakis mentioned.
“Anybody who believes within the rightness and justice of his positions is rarely afraid of confronting arguments,” he added, noting that Greece’s place on the problem of the so-called Elgin Marbles was well-known.
The marble sculptures have been faraway from Athens by diplomat and artwork aficionado Lord Elgin within the nineteenth century and have been housed in London since then.
Campaigners — most famously the late singer and actress Melina Mercouri — have for years referred to as for his or her return to Greece, and talks between the museum and Greek officers have been held final 12 months to debate a possible mortgage association. In March, nevertheless, Sunak dominated out any change to present laws that stops the British Museum handing the marbles again to Greece completely.
On Saturday, the Monetary Instances mentioned Mitsotakis would talk about the problem with U.Ok. Labour Social gathering chief Keir Starmer who says he wouldn’t block a possible settlement that may see elements of the sculptures loaned to Greece ought to he change into prime minister.
On Sunday, Mitsotakis bewailed the shortage of progress on the problem in an interview with the BBC.
The cancellation got here after Mitsotakis’ assembly wth Starmer. Downing Avenue confirmed Sunak didn’t have any public-facing conferences on Tuesday and that Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden was because of meet Mitsotakis.
Greek authorities officers mentioned Mitsotakis denied he would maintain a gathering with Dowden.
“Clearly we are going to proceed pushing on the problem and our essential interlocutor on the problem is the British Museum,” a Greek authorities official mentioned.