Schinas on Sunak’s behaviour: ‘As un-British as it gets’
European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas has described a decision by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to cancel a meeting with visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis “as un-British as it gets.”
“I’m still lost for words about what happened. Yes, in my mind there is no doubt that the [Parthenon] Marbles should go back where they belong,” Schinas, who holds the portfolio of European Commissioner for Promoting our European Way of Life, told Australia’s public broadcaster.
Sunak cancelled Tuesday’s meeting with Mitsotakis after his office said the two sides had previously agreed that it should not be used as a public platform “to relitigate long, long settled matters,” a reference to ownership of the Parthenon Marbles.
A senior Greek government official speaking on condition of anonymity dismissed the statement as “inaccurate.”
Greece has repeatedly asked the British Museum to permanently return the 2,500-year-old marbles that British diplomat Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon temple in the early 19th century when he was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
About half the surviving marble works are in London, and the rest in the Acropolis Museum in Athens. [AMNA, Reuters]
