2023-11-28 00:20:55
The British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has canceled a meeting scheduled for Tuesday the 28th with his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, due to a chain of comments, opinions and positions on the Parthenon sculptures that he retains and are exhibited in the British Museum. According to the BBC, the conservative president suspended at “very last minute” the Downing Street meeting announced days ago, which was the star stage on the agenda of Mitsotakis’ three-day trip to the United Kingdom.
The cancellation of the event has opened a diplomatic crisis between London and Athens over a long and historical dispute over the ownership of the Acropolis marbles, which to date has not tended to disturb the friendly flow of bilateral relations between both countries.
“Greece and the United Kingdom have a very deep history of friendship and cooperation, and the Greek Government is extremely surprised by the decision,” a spokesman for Mitsotakis told the BBC, without hiding the underlying anger that the decision has caused. Sunak.
The Greek government reproaches the cancellation “in extremis” of a bilateral meeting that had a broad agenda in which both prime ministers planned to address “issues of mutual interest”, such as the conflict between Israel and Gaza, the illegal invasion of Ukraine by part of Russia and climate change, along with “common challenges” such as migration and the Parthenon sculptures.
British sources suggest that Sunak was “irritated” by the stance taken by Mitsotakis during an interview with the public corporation on Sunday, in which he compared the situation of the friezes of the Greek temple with the “break into two halves” of the famous painting of Mona Lisa, on display at the Louvre.
In addition, the Greek premier met with Labor leader Keir Starmer this Monday, with priority to his now aborted meeting with the conservative leader. The head of the British opposition and favorite to win the 2024 general elections had previously made it known through anonymous spokespersons that, if he took the reins of power, he would not hinder the loan of the disputed marble pieces if the British Museum and the Greek Government will reach an agreement satisfactory to both parties.
Mitsotakis and the president of the museum’s board, George Osborne, who was Minister of the Exchequer in David Cameron’s government, have been engaged for months in a process of negotiations that aspires to find an adequate formula, both technically and dialectically, that will allow the exchange of a section of the so-called Elgin marbles for other Greek treasures that would travel in both directions from London to Athens.
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