Baltas own goal: SYRIZA says “No” to Amal Cloony regarding the return of the Parthenon Marbles

The Greek government appears to have changed its  course concerning the acquisition of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum in London. Culture Minister Aristidis Baltas on Tuessday said the government is no longer mulling legal action ot win back Greek antiquities but would instead kick-start a diplomatic campaign to repatriate the 5th century BC statues. He said the main reason he was avoiding court action was because Greece would “risk losing the case” that would make future endeavours for the repatriation even more difficult.

Questioned by MPs during a session of Parliament’s education committee that met to discuss a European Council directive on the return of cultural objects unlawfully seized from territories of member states, Baltas said that lawyer Amal Clooney and the Goughty Street Chambers legal team from London had been reimbursed for their services regarding a possible claim in the international court. Noteworthy, is the fact that their report has yet to be collected by the Greek government that does not wish to enter a legal dispute.

Regarding legal fees, it is noteworthy that former finance minister Nikos Xydakis had said that the expenditure for the legal team worth around 200,000 pounds had been covered by a team of benefactors.

Former New Democracy culture minister Kostas Tassoulas who had served in the ministry during Amal Clooney’s visit to Greece, said. “The reasoned opinion that we did not receive from the legal office in London which Mrs. Clooney compiled along with another two esteemed lawyers, and with the involvement of the said office, did not only offer us the specialized legal know-how, but huge international publicity in favor of the return of the Marbles. Our country had no reason to be deprived of the new beneficial international publicity in favor of the return of the Marbles that the government invitation to the British lawyers had caused,” he said. “Instead, the government, showing pettiness, refuses to accept the reasoned opinion that was submitted via our embassy in London, just because it had been started by the previous government.”