Last year marked 200 years since Greece was robbed of its famous marble Parthenon sculptures, known around the world as the so-called “Elgin Marbles,” and as the United Kingdom grows ever-closer to completing its exit from the European Union, Geoffrey Robertson, a columnist for the Guardian newspaper, has written a column explaining why Brexit is the perfect opportunity for his country to return the sculptures to Greece.
“Putting the return of Lord Elgin’s stolen marbles on the Brexit negotiating table would lead both to a boon for Britain and a triumph for European enhancement of its heritage,” Geoffrey Robertson wrote in an opinion column on Tuesday, adding that the European Union treaty serves both sides of the Brexit negotiations and is there “to ensure that Europe’s cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced.”
Previous to the Brexit vote under David Cameron’s governing, the UK government remained in opposition to returning the statues to their rightful owners in Greece. In 2011, Cameron joked that Britain was not going to “lose its marbles,” referring to the Parthenon Marbles.
However, following the recent vote in favor of Brexit, the desire by the UK public has increased even more in favor of returning the marbles to Greece.
Recent polls have shown an overwhelming majority of UK citizens support the reunification of the Greek Marbles as an Ipsos-Mori poll recently showed 69 percent of Britons were in favor of returning the marbles, while only a mere 13 percent were against.
Also, last summer UK MPs put forth a new Bill, The Parthenon Sculptures (Return to Greece), which was presented on July 10 by a joint-partisan panel composed of Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams, supported by Conservative Jeremy Lefroy and 10 other MPs from Labor, the SNP and Plaid Cymru.
“It’s time we engaged in a gracious act. To put right a 200-year wrong,” Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams said according to the independent.co.uk.
“These magnificent artifacts were improperly dragged and sawn off the remains of the Parthenon.”
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