Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to raise the issue of the return of the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece during his meeting with his UK counterpart Boris Johnson later on Tuesday at 10 Downing Street.

The two will also talk about the prospects for an even greater influx of tourists to Greece next year, as well as the threatening trade war between Britain and The European Union, because of the backlog left by Brexit over the status of Northern Ireland.

As Mitsotakis announced last week, speaking at a UNESCO event in Paris, but also through an interview with the Telegraph, he intends to raise in his meeting with Boris Johnson the issue of the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures,  now housed in the British Museum, through their repatriation to Greece.

The Greek PM will reportedly emphasise that the issue concerns the two governments and should not continue to cast a shadow on the relations between the two countries. “The British government must enter into a bona fide dialogue with Greece for the return of the Sculptures”, he will point out, expecting a positive response from Mr. Johnson, who, after all, appears as a connoisseur and admirer of ancient Greek culture.
As an additional argument in favour of the Greek demand, the Prime Minister will cite the position recently adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on the Return of Cultural Property (ICPRCP) of UNESCO, according to which this is not a dispute between museums, as claimed by the British, but a transnational issue that needs to be resolved by both governments.

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