The Minister of Foreign Affairs George Gerapetritismet with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameronat the request of the latter in its margins Meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers.

According to diplomatic sources, Mr. Gerapetritis pointed out the disagreement of principle that exists regarding the issue of return of the Parthenon sculptures.

However, the two Ministers agreed that there is a need for cooperation to safeguard the bilateral relations between Greece and the United Kingdom and to address common challenges.

London insists on the outrageous claims “for breach of agreement” – Athens denies

A representative of the British government said that the cancellation of the meeting between Rishi Sounak and Kyriakos Mitsotakis was due to a breach of agreement on the part of the Greek Prime Minister, as reported by SKAI’s correspondent in London, Thanasis Gavos.

As the Financial Times writes with information similar to that of the BBC this morning, the spokesman said that Mr. Mitsotakis had given an assurance that he would not use his visit as “public platform” to request the return of the Parthenon Sculptures from London to Athens.

“These assurances were not kept.”the spokesman added, referring to Mr. Mitsotakis’ interview with the BBC on Sunday.

The representative added that the British prime minister considered “how unproductive it would be to have a meeting dominated by this issue.”

The FT article emphasizes that the Greek government has denied such an agreement.

Downing Street for its part rejected the suggestion that Prime Minister Sunak was disturbed by the Mitsotakis-Starmer meeting.

He also noted that a compromise for the Sculptures “not something I would support” the British government.

Also speaking to the FT are former Foreign Office secretary-general Lord Ricketts and former UK ambassador to Washington Lord Darroch who express surprise and wonder about her “excessive” Sunac reaction.

A European official spoke to the newspaper about “elegance” move and a former Tory minister commented that the only explanation is “vagaries and a complete lack of strategic direction» on behalf of the British Prime Minister.

The statement of the representative of the British Prime Minister

In particular, asked to explain Rishi Sunak’s decision, at the press briefing this morning, the British Prime Minister’s spokesman said that “The relationship between the United Kingdom and Greece is extremely important, from our cooperation in NATO, to addressing common challenges such as illegal immigration and joint efforts to resolve the Middle East crisis and the war in Ukraine.”

“When he requested a meeting with the prime minister this week, the Greek government provided assurances that he would not use the visit as a public platform to resolve long-standing issues related to the ownership of the Parthenon sculptures, which would simply distract from the other important issues I have just mentioned.”says the British representative.

“Since these assurances were not kept, the Prime Minister felt it would not be productive to hold a meeting dominated by the issuedespite the significant challenges faced by the Greeks and the British”.

In closing, the British representative added that “The Deputy Prime Minister was available to meet the Greek Prime Minister to discuss the broader issues and we are disappointed that the Prime Minister has chosen not to take this meeting.”