Brexit will strengthen European support for Parthenon Marbles return, says Greece

Speaking to Reuters, Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said that she believes the circumstances are ripe at the moment for the marbles’ return.“It is the mentality that has changed, the fact that Britain is distancing itself from the European family, it is 200 years since the Greek revolution. I think the right conditions have been created for their permanent return,” she said.

Greece plans grand cultural events throughout 2021 to mark 200 years since the start of its revolt against Ottoman rule.

Britain will leave the European Union on Jan. 31.

Medoni earlier told a conference in Athens: “As Britain distances itself from Europe and the ideas that it advocates, Greece, rebounding from the recent crisis will in coming years have the opportunity to attract attention and interest from an international audience.”

The British museum has said “the sculptures are part of everyone’s shared heritage and transcend cultural boundaries”.

The museum also used to argue for years that Athens lacked a suitable place to preserve the marbles. Greece says that approach smacks of an antiquated and colonialist approach of displaying ‘trophies’ from expeditions overseas.

Greece stepped up its campaign for their return after opening a new museum in 2009 at the foot of the Acropolis hill, which holds the sculptures that Elgin left behind alongside plaster casts of the missing pieces.

Mendoni said Greece would never give up the campaign for the marbles’ return, accusing Elgin of being nothing short of a thief.

“Motivated by financial gain, publicity and self promotion, Elgin deployed illegal and untoward measures to extract from Greece the Sculptures of the Parthenon and a plethora of other antiquities in a blatant act of serial theft,” she said.