British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office committed diplomatic indecency by canceling his meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis that was scheduled for noon on Tuesday (28/11).
The occasion was Mr. Mitsotakis’ interview with the BBC, where he explicitly stated the Greek arguments for the reunification of the Parthenon sculptures, asking how the British would feel if the Mona Lisa was cut in half and displayed undividedly in the Louvre and the British Museum Museum.
While Mr Mitsotakis was meeting Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer, who leads the Conservative Rishi Sunak by 20 points, the British ambassador in Athens, Matthew Lodge, contacted Mr Mitsotakis’ diplomatic director Anna Maria Boura, canceling the tomorrow’s appointment that had been booked for several weeks.
Obviously, this move caused the government to be very upset, saying that the cancellation of the meeting was a foul and politically indecent. Mr. Mitsotakis in his interview had expressed the fixed Greek positions that Mr. Sunak knew even before his interview.
The British leak
At the same time and while Downing Street was canceling the appointment, No10 “leaked” to the Evening Standard newspaper that Mr Sunak would refuse the Greek request for the return of the Sculptors to Greece, saying that the British Museum is the “right place” for these treasures. A representative of Mr. Sunak told the newspaper that the Prime Minister supports the law that prevents the permanent return of the sculptures and underlined that he is not in favor of any loan agreement.
Strong protest
The “diplomatic unfair” of Downing Street brought the strong protest of Mr. Mitsotakis.
“I express my dismay at the fact that the British Prime Minister canceled our scheduled meeting just hours before it was due to take place. Greece and Britain are united by traditional ties of friendship and the framework of our bilateral relations is extremely broad.
Greece’s positions on the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures are well known. I was hoping to have the opportunity to discuss them with my British counterpart as well, along with the major challenges of the international moment: Gaza, Ukraine, Climate crisis, migration. Anyone who believes in the correctness and justice of their positions is never afraid of confronting arguments”.
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Government sources told protothema.gr that Mr. Sunak was also aware that Mr. Mitsotakis would meet the Labor leader, to whom the Greek Prime Minister raised the issue. On the same wavelength, they underlined that the negotiation procedure is between Greece the British Museum anyway.
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The BBC in its report, a few minutes after the news of the cancellation became known, mentions, among other things, that the British government has confirmed the cancellation of the appointment and that the Deputy Prime Minister of the government, Oliver Dowden, will meet with the Greek Prime Minister.
However, according to the Greek side this is not the case as Kyriakos Mitsotakis refused after Rishi Sunak’s diplomatic indecency to meet on Tuesday as planned.
Mitsotakis met Sir Keir Starmer head of the British Labor Party
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also had a meeting at the embassy residence in London with the head of the British Labor Party, Sir Keir Starmer.
During the meeting, the importance of Greek-British relations was emphasized, while the need to promote cooperation between Greece, Britain and the EU countries was underlined.
