Marbles snub raises fears for EU relations

Rishi Sunak's snub of his Greek counterpart over the Parthenon marbles raised fresh questions about Britain's fraught relations with its European neighbours yesterday as a war of words between Athens and London escalated.

- Ben Quinn  , Pippa Crerar , Helena Smith 

 

According to Downing Street, a meeting on Monday between Sunak and Kyriakos Mitsotakis was cancelled because the Greek prime minister reneged on assurances he would not use a UK visit as a "public platform" to lobby for the return of the marbles to Athens. The Greek side has denied any such assurances were given.

The diplomatic spat erupted after an interview with the BBC on Sunday in which Mitsotakis described the retention of the sculptures at the British Museum as being akin to the Mona Lisa being cut in half, language the Greek government has used before.

After this, the meeting was cancelled at short notice. A spokesperson for Sunak said he felt that any talks were likely to be "dominated" by the row over the sculptures. "There were assurances that it would not be used as a public platform," the spokesperson said.

"We saw this happen with a previous visit with a previous prime minister in 2021. The assurances were not adhered to, and so the [British] prime minister took the decision."