PASOK leader & Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos is no stranger to dealing with the Parthenon Sculptures issue. He has been quiet about it in public though, since he lost his position as Culture Minister after Nea Demokratia took power in the 2004 general election.

Today though, he had the opportunity to speak to the European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg, about the return of looted cultural artefacts, where he mentioned both the case of the Parthenon Marbles, as well as the various more recent cases that have arisen in Cyprus since the 1974 Turkish occupation.

PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos

From:
Famagusta Gazette

Greek FM refers to destruction of Cyprus’ cultural heritage in occupied north
Thursday, 17 April, 2014

Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos, speaking before the European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a member state, referred to the need to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece and the damage that Cyprus` cultural treasures have suffered since the 1974 Turkish invasion.

He said that the new directive regarding the return of cultural objects is clearly improved compared to the one that existed since 1993 and it will be an important instrument in handling illegal trafficking of cultural artifacts, which is one of the widely used forms of organised crime.
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Both Henry Porter & Rodi Kratsa‘s talks from the Parthenon Marbles round table event held in Brussels last week have now been published.

This is in addition to Tom Flynn‘s, which he posted on his website last week.

I also wrote an article about the event, which includes some detail of the talks given by the other speakers who were there.

From:
The Parliament

Return of Parthenon marbles a ‘moral obligation’, says MEP
By Rodi Kratsa – 22nd October 2013

Protecting European cultural heritage, including the Parthenon marbles, is a ‘moral obligation’ and should be at the heart of the EU, writes Rodi Kratsa.

(…) The union shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and shall ensure that Europe’s cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced”, stresses the Lisbon treaty.

Cultural heritage and its symbols undoubtedly constitute the main capital of European peoples and the soul of the European Union. Respecting and restoring them is a European obligation and concern.
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In addition to the articles I posted earlier, Marbles Reunited has written a report on the event held in Brussels earlier this week, and Tom Flynn has also posted a transcript of his talk.

The report that follows is based on my notes taken during the event. I have not tried to capture everything, just the key points. I am hoping that my comments do not misrepresent what the speakers were saying – some it was from the live translation there, and some of it was from the responses to questions afterwards, rather than from the original speeches.

After introductions by Krister Kumlin & a brief video, Tom Flynn was the first speaker, and pointed out, that when considering the acquisition of obviously looted artefacts “Most museums now know better”. The thing is of course, how to get museums to act retrospectively – to apply the rules that they would use now to actions that they made well before their current rules and guidelines came into force.

He also added, that “Nowadays, the social network acts as a critical filter to the acquisition of disputed artefacts”. This is a good point, as museums nowadays have a far greater interaction with the public than perhaps ever before. People’s opinions mean more to them than they ever used to, and as a result, it is important to let museums know if what you think they are doing is morally unacceptable.

German MEP Jo Leinen had a simple message – drawing on the words of another German politician, he quoted Willie Brandt “we have to unite what belongs together”.

The Spanish MEP, Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez took a slightly different viewpoint from some of the other speakers, looking at this action by Britain, in the context of other actions that occur within Europe. He felt that it was particularly important that the countries of northern Europe, in some way recognise that although they might be economically the powerhouses of Europe today, they still owe so much culturally to the Mediterranean countries in the South of Europe. He stressed a message that Campaigns such as Marbles Reunited have also long emphasised, that “It is not about sending the Parthenon Marbles back to Athens, but about reuniting them”.
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There have been a few press articles about the Round Table event organised in Brussels last week, where various speakers explained why they supported the return of the Parthenon Sculptures.

From:
Daily Telegraph

Join in ‘mediation’ with Greece over Elgin Marbles, Unesco urges Britain
The long running dispute over the Elgin Marbles should be settled by mediation, Britain is told
By Martin Banks, Brussels
6:56PM BST 15 Oct 2013

William Hague has been urged to take part in a “mediation procedure” with Greece in a fresh diplomatic bid to resolve the long-running dispute over the Elgin Marbles.

Unesco, the United Nation’s cultural organisation, has written to the Foreign Secretary, to Maria Miller, the culture secretary, and to Neil MacGregor, the British Museum’s director, inviting them to sit down with Greek officials and seek a mutually acceptable solution to the issue of the sculptures – once part of the ancient Parthenon building in Athens.
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The Swiss Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles are organising a round table event at the European Parliament in Brussels. The event is entitled: The reunification of the Parthenon Marbes – a European concern

The event take place on Tuesday 15th October 2013.

From:
Swiss Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles

MEP Rodi Kratsa, Vice-President of the European Parliament 2007-2012, and Professor Dusan Sidjanski, Chairman of the Swiss Committee, have the pleasure to invite you to the

Round Table

THE REUNIFICATION OF THE PARTHENON MARBLES : A EUROPEAN CONCERN

under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture of the Hellenic Republic
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Despite promises when they were in opposition, since 1997, the UK’s Labour government has failed to make any meaningful headway towards resolving the situation of the Elgin Marbles in The British Museum. Previous statements from the Conservative party suggest that they would be even less in favour of any sort of reunification deal than Labour is.

Nick Clegg, unknown to many before he was elected as a UK MP in 2005, was previously an MEP & during this time he was involved in organising an exhibition at the European Parliament.

Since 2005, there have been 6 Early Day Motions relating to the Parthenon Marbles. Based on an analysis of the people who signed at least one of these EDMs, the breakdown of support (strong support – MPs only normally sign EDMs when they feel strongly about something) by party is:

Liberal Democrats – 33%
Labour – 15%
Conservative – 1%

The weak support from the Conservative party is particularly troubling – it is only 2 out of 193 MPs who have expressed any interest in the issue. These are: Richard Ottaway (Croydon South) & James Gray (North Wiltshire). There are other members of their party who I know are supportive of the issue, but clearly they are not interested enough in it to want to publicly express their support.

The SNP & Plaid Cymru are also supportive of return, but their results are less accurate as they have far fewer MPs:

SNP – 29%
Plaid Cymru – 100% (of 3MPs)

Other minor / regional parties that are supportive:

SDLP (Northern Ireland) – 67% (of 3 MPs)
Respect – 100% (of 1 MP)

Based on these results, a Liberal Democrat government in the UK currently seems by far the most positive option for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. (although the national parties listed above for Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland are also supportive of the issue).

Below is a press release from the Marbles in Exile conference (Note that The Parthenon 2004 campaign is what is now know as Marbles Reunited):

Embargo: 00.01, Wednesday 29th May, 2002
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SHOWS SUPPORT FOR THE RETURN OF THE PARTHENON MARBLES – RICHARD ALLAN MP

Today, the (Parthenon) Marbles in Exile Conference and Exhibition will take place at the European Parliament. Nick Clegg MEP, chair of the Marbles in Exile Conference, says:

“I am thrilled by the positive response across Europe to this issue. After all, it’s about preserving our common European heritage. It is absurd that the Parthenon monument remains torn apart in this way. Imagine the outrage in Britain if Big Ben’s clock face was taken from Westminster and housed in the Prado museum in Spain.”
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