Brexit: losing the Marbles

[Zigenare]

Indeed.

Seems that the EU are selectively saying the UK need to give something back purely as part of a trade deal and nothing really to do with the fact that Greece want their marbles back...

So, Spain want Gibraltar, the French want fishing rights, the Greeks want the Elgin Marbles, Germany doesn't want competition. What else is on the EU shopping list?

[Old Greg]

Why are there "fears" ?

Who cares? Just give them back.

Live stream Express reading gammons dying from apoplexy.

[Old Greg]

So, Spain want Gibraltar, the French want fishing rights, the Greeks want the Elgin Marbles, Germany doesn't want competition. What else is on the EU shopping list?

WGAS. The UK holds all the cards.

[darmstadt]

Texts adopted - Cross-border restitution claims of works of art and cultural goods looted in armed conflicts and wars - Thursday, 17 January 2019

A leaked draft of Brussels’ negotiation mandate had included a stipulation that Britain should ‘return unlawfully removed cultural objects to their countries of origin’.

It is feared that the broad wording couldbe applied to include the Parthenon marbles, the ancient Greek sculptures commonly known as the Elgin marbles and on display in the British Museum.
...
The proposition had been argued for by Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Greece, but was more to do with a desire to stop the fraudulent movement of antiquities around Europe rather than a direct reference to the marbles.

[original PM]

So, Spain want Gibraltar, the French want fishing rights, the Greeks want the Elgin Marbles, Germany doesn't want competition. What else is on the EU shopping list?

75 billion euro's if you believe the other thread!

[AtW]

Indeed.

Seems that the EU are selectively saying the UK need to give something back purely as part of a trade deal and nothing really to do with the fact that Greece want their marbles back...

EU is a club that is acting in the interest of its members - they can do whatever they please as they have their own internal rules on how to please their membership

[Zigenare]

EU is a club that is acting in the interest of its members - they can do whatever they please as they have their own internal rules on how to please their membership

Indeed, and as we're now doing a Groucho they can 'eff off!

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next they'll be after an 'effin' shrubbery!

Nii!

[Eirikur]

Now it's Greece wanting their historical artifacts back, soon it will be Egypt followed by all the former British occupied countries. The British Museum, Ashmolean and many others will close very soon after that, saving the tax payers a lot of money. Who needs treasures and culture, now you can have a blue passport?

[original PM]

Interesting read...

Elgin Marbles - Wikipedia

Main challenge against it is

"A range of different arguments have been presented by scholars,[53] British political leaders and British Museum spokespersons over the years in defence of retention of the Elgin Marbles by the British Museum. The main points include:

the assertion that fulfilling all restitution claims would empty most of the world's great museums – this has also caused concerns among other European and American museums, with one potential target being the famous bust of Nefertiti in Berlin's Neues Museum; in addition, portions of Parthenon marbles are kept by many other European museums.[30] Advocates of the British Museum's position also point out that the Marbles in Britain receive about 6 million visitors per year as opposed to 1.5 million visitors to the Acropolis Museum. The removal of the Marbles to Greece would therefore, they argue, significantly reduce the number of people who have the opportunity to visit the Marbles.[100] The English Romantic poet John Keats, and the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, are notable examples of visitors to the Elgin Marbles after their removal to England who subsequently produced famous work inspired by them.[101][102]"

Now it's Greece wanting their historical artifacts back, soon it will be Egypt followed by all the former British occupied countries. The British Museum, Ashmolean and many others will close very soon after that, saving the tax payers a lot of money. Who needs treasures and culture, now you can have a blue passport?

And if they applied the rule unilaterally they would be asking for artifacts back from across the world.

And yet they just seem to use it as means of putting pressure on the UK to agree to trade deals.

I do not think they have the best interests of the artifacts in mind at all.

Maybe the Germans could, you know, look to give some of the stuff back - assuming they have not burnt it all?

Nazi plunder - Wikipedia