Stepping up its bid for the return of the Elgin, or Parthenon, marbles from the British Museum to Athens before the Summer Olympics, Greece has hired the world’s fourth biggest public relations firm, reports from London said yesterday, adding that a first poll commissioned by the company found that some 80 percent of Britons backs the Greek campaign.

Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos expressed “joy” at the findings of the poll published in the Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph.

“I attach great importance to my next meeting with my British counterpart,” he added, without specifying when the meeting would be.

London has repeatedly refused to return the fifth century BC sculptures, which were removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin early in the 19th century.

The Sunday Telegraph said Greece has hired Burston Marsteller to handle its campaign. The firm’s clients include the Iraqi National Congress. In the past, Burston Marsteller advised Union Carbide after the Bhopal disaster, and the US Three Mile Island firm after the accident at the reactor there.