Secret discussions on the return of the Parthenon marbles, according to the Greek press

The case has poisoned relations between Greece and the United Kingdom for more than a century. The Parthenon friezes are said to be the subject of secret talks that would have started in 2021. This is the major daily newspaper in Athens, Ta Nea which affirms it in its editions of Saturday December 3. According to the newspaper, “backstage meetings have been held in London since November 2021”.

The president of the British Museum – who is none other than George Osborne, former Chancellor of the Exchequer in David Cameron’s government – is said to have met Greek Prime Minister Kiriakos Mitsotakis, in the greatest discretion, on at least two occasions. The last of these exchanges would have taken place this week in a hotel in the Knightsbridge district, in the center of the British capital.

On Monday, Mr Mitsotakis took part in an event at the London School of Economics (LSE) and expressed optimism about a solution leading to a reunification of the Parthenon monument in Athens, one of the sites of the 5th century before our era the most visited in the world.

On this occasion, the Greek news agency ANA-MPA reported that Mr Mitsotakis had declared that reunification was possible and that he expected progress on this issue. But he did not wish to take a public position.

“Negotiations at an advanced stage”

“It is possible that a mutually beneficial solution will be found, the Parthenon sculptures can be reunited taking into account at the same time the concerns of the British Museumadded Mr. Mitsotakis. I understand that there is a dynamic, I speak knowingly of the reunification of the sculptures and not of a return. »

According to the daily Ta Nea, “Insiders have reported that negotiations between Osborne and the Greek Prime Minister are at an ‘advanced stage'”. The newspaper stresses, however, that an agreement remains to be finalized and that Greek officials have warned “it cannot be ruled out that the discussions end up in a last-minute deadlock, as is the case in any delicate negotiation”.

Mr. Osborne said he was open to an agreement with Athens in mid-June to share the Parthenon marbles. “I think an agreement is possible to tell (their) story in both Athens and London if we approach this situation without preconditions or too many red lines”he said on LBC radio.

Asked if an agreement could be reached to see the marbles exhibited for a time in Greece and then return to London, he estimated that “this type of arrangement” would be possible, “something to see them in all their glory in Athens and to see them with examples of other civilizations in London”.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Greece has officially requested the restitution, without success, of a 75-meter frieze detached from the Parthenon as well as one of the famous caryatids from the Erechtheion, a small ancient temple also on the rock of the Acropolis. , both masterpieces of the British Museum.

London claims the sculptures were “legally acquired” in 1802 by the British diplomat Lord Elgin who sold them to the British Museum. But Greece maintains that they were the object of a « pillage » while the country was under Ottoman occupation.

The influential British daily The Timeswho has always been a staunch supporter of the British Museum, spoke out in January in favor of a return.