Investments, Parthenon Sculptures at the center of PM’s London agenda

Attracting investments and the repatriation of the Parthenon Sculptures take center stage in the agenda of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his visit to London, where he is slated to meet with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, and key foreign investors.

Having been in London since Sunday, Mitsotakis is set to participate in the Greek investment roadshow on Monday morning, jointly organized by Morgan Stanley and the Athens Stock Exchange. He is scheduled to hold discussions at the event with Morgan Stanley’s Vice-President of Investment Banking, Luigi Rizzo, urging investors to leverage the investment opportunities presented by Greece.

In terms of timing and investment prospects, government sources assert that the Greek economy remains a positive surprise for the eurozone. It has reclaimed its investment-grade status, and the recent National Bank placement saw successful oversubscription.

“We’ve turned the country around. The economy is performing particularly well. We’re growing much faster. I was following the previous debate about taxes and about the burden on average people. We’ve lowered taxes, but we’ve also driven up growth. So in our case, we can convincingly say that the difficult days for Greece are behind us,” Mitsotakis said in an interview with the BBC on Sunday.

During his meeting with Sunak at Downing Street on Tuesday, there will be an extensive review of Greek-British relations. The two leaders are expected to exchange perspectives on regional and international matters, with the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures also featuring prominently in the discussions.

Addressing the issue in the BBC interview, the Greek prime minister remarked, “This is not a question of returning artifacts whose ownership we question. We feel that these sculptures belong to Greece and that they were essentially stolen. But this is not, in my mind, an ownership question. This is a reunification argument.”

He continued, “Where can you best appreciate what is essentially one monument? I mean, it’s as if I told you that you would cut the Mona Lisa in half and you would have half of it at the Louvre and half of it at the British Museum. Do you think your viewers would appreciate the beauty of the painting in such a way? Well, this is exactly what happened with the Parthenon Sculptures, and that is why we keep lobbying for a deal that would essentially be a partnership between Greece and the British Museum, but which would allow us to return the Sculptures to Greece and have people appreciate them in their original setting.” [AMNA, Kathimerini]