British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has escalated his war of words with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, accusing the Greek premier of trying to “grandstand” over the disputed Parthenon Marbles and breaking a promise to the UK government ahead of a planned meeting between the two leaders.
The diplomatic spat between Rishi Sunak and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, triggered by the UK prime minister’s abrupt cancellation of a scheduled London meeting with his Greek counterpart after the latter restated Greece’s claim to the Parthenon sculptures housed in London, is not anticipated to impact the ongoing negotiations for a potential deal on the artifacts, according to British Museum officials who spoke to Kathimerini.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday described the abrupt cancellation of his planned meeting with UK counterpart Rishi Sunak in London as an “unfortunate incident.” Despite this, he expressed confidence that it would not have any impact on bilateral ties.
In the wake of the unprecedented spat with London, Athens believes the reasons behind the cancellation at the 11th hour of the meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis by British counterpart Rishi Sunak on Monday evening were not a supposed “agreement” between the two sides not to discuss the Parthenon Sculptures issue, but political and diplomatic.
Amid the recent controversy between Athens and London, Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis met the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron, at the latter’s request, on the sidelines of the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelled Tuesday’s meeting with his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos 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 Sculptures.
The Greek government is working systematically toward the reunification of Parthenon Sculptures, Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said on Monday in response to a question in Parliament by Zoi Konstantopoulou, leader of the Course of Freedom party.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his annoyance on Monday evening over the last-minute cancellation of his meeting in London with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
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.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said returning the Parthenon Marbles to Greece is about “reunification” not “ownership,” in an interview on the British state broadcaster BBC on Sunday.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak championed a series of landmark agreements after hosting the first artificial intelligence (AI) safety summit but a global plan for overseeing the technology remains a long way off.
The Greek government and authorities have been very successful in fighting “illegal migration” by creating “an extremely secure land border” with a sturdy fence that was built very quickly to act as a deterrent, British Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said on a visit to the Evros border region.
The British Museum said on Wednesday it planned to digitize its entire collection citing the need to secure public access its vast catalogue after it reported in August that 2,000 artefacts had been stolen or were missing.
Defence Minister Nikos Dendias held talks in London on Monday with his British counterpart Grant Shapps regarding cooperation between Greece and the UK in the field of defense innovation.
Session 3 of this year’s Greek-British Symposium, focusing on “Sustainability and Technology,” will be live-streamed Monday from 2.30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Greek time.
Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias will be in London on Monday for talks with his British counterpart Grant Shapps, his office announced Sunday.
