Turkish foreign minister told Sweden its Nato bid will be ratified ‘within weeks’ – as it happened | Nato

10.21 EST

Sunak criticises Mitsotakis as row continues

The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has ramped up his criticism of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, telling the House of Commons that he cancelled talks with the Greek leader after he failed to keep to “a commitment” not to raise the longstanding dispute over the Parthenon marbles during his trip to London.

Responding to criticism from Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, during prime minister’s questions, Sunak said:

It was clear that the purpose of the meeting was not to discuss substantive issues for the future, but rather to grandstand and relitigate issues of the past.

Well-placed Greek insiders described the charge “as absurd”, saying not only would Mitsotakis refuse to be gagged on an issue so close to his heart but that Downing Street was aware, days before, of the talks agenda, which included the ctopic alongside Gaza, Ukraine, immigration and the climate emergency.

Greece, as we reported earlier, now says it want to move on. Asked to comment on Sunak’s decision to accelerate the war of words, a senior Greek government official told the Guardian:

In the spirit of the good longstanding relations between the countries, which we intend to preserve, we have nothing more to add on this matter.

Meanwhile, Lina Mendoni, the Greek culture minister, also attempted to put a positive spin on the row, telling reporters it had not only brought Athens’ restitution claim to wider public attention but highlighted the “barbarism” with which the marbles were originally hacked from the Parthenon by Elgin’s team and then treated by the British Museum.

“Greece is continuing to talk with the British Museum … but the sculptures are the product of theft,” she told SKAI radio.

“They are in the British Museum today as the product of theft. Greece is intensifying its claim, focusing on the barbarism the sculptures suffered not only under Elgin but during their years on display [in London],” she added, referring to an array of incidents that had, she said, left the artworks damaged while under stewardship of the British Museum. Among them was the infamous attempt in the 1930’s to clean the marbles’ patina.

Updated at 10.35 EST

08.46 EST

Dutch VVD wants to make ‘center-right’ coalition possible, leader says

Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, leader of the Netherlands’ People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), said today that she informed the “scout” appointed for post-election talks that her party has a strong preference for a “centre-right coalition”.

The VVD would be willing to support a coalition made up of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), New Social Contract (NSC) and Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), she said, adding that the precise form of collaboration could be worked out.

Yeşilgöz-Zegerius also added that VVD did not see a centre-left coalition as a logical consequence of the election results and would therefore not make this possible.

Updated at 09.03 EST

07.47 EST

Museum trustees should be able to “make the case” whether items in their collections should be retained or returned to their countries of origin, but instead were being “infantilised” and “hidebound” by legislation, Tristram Hunt, the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, has said.

He was speaking as a diplomatic row between the UK and Greece over the future of the Parthenon marbles, held at the British Museum, blew up this week after the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, abruptly cancelled a meeting with the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Hunt told the BBC: “I’m a strong believer that trustees of museum collections should have autonomy over those collections, and be able to make the case whether they should retain them within the UK or loan them to other museums around the world – or indeed begin a conversation around restitution and repatriation.”

That was already happening in many non-national museums, for example the Horniman Museum in south London, which had returned Benin bronzes looted from Nigeria, he said.

Read the full story.

Updated at 08.48 EST

07.14 EST

Greek demands based on ‘universal cultural values’, minister says

More on that Anglo-Greek marbles row from Helena Smith in Athens

With the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, now back in Athens – and the dust settling on a row that no one had foreseen – it is clear the Greek government wants to draw a line under the incident.

In addition to the centre right leader describing the cancellation of talks in London with his British counterpart, Rishi Sunak, as “unfortunate,” the Greek foreign minister George Gerapetritis has also underlined the need to move on.

Ahead of today’s meeting in Brussels of Nato foreign ministers – which focused on Ukraine – Gerapetritis held talks with the UK’s newly installed foreign secretary, David Cameron, in what is being seen as a determined effort by both sides to put the diplomatic row behind them.

The meeting is believed to have been requested by Cameron.

“It is our conviction that bilateral relations between Greece and Great Britain ought to be good and I will work with my counterpart towards that direction,” Gerapetritis said while also insisting that Athens’ demand for the “reunification” of the artworks – in a purpose-built museum beneath the Acropolis – was not only “just” but based on “universal cultural values”.

Bilateral disagreement over the marbles was “one of principle that exists regarding the question of the return of the sculptures”, he told reporters.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mitsotakis reiterated that Anglo-Greek ties had “an important, historic base”, telling the country’s head of state, President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, that, if anything, fallout over the incident had the positive effect of highlighting Greece’s just demand for the marbles’ repatriation to the land where they were carved 2,500 years ago.

Updated at 07.59 EST

05.47 EST

Cancellation of Sunak meeting will not hurt long-term relations, Greek leader says

The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has said that the cancellation of a meeting with the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, was “unfortunate” but would not hurt long-term relations.

“I believe the move [cancellation] will not hurt relations between Greece and Britain in the longer term,” Mitsotakis told the Greek president, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, Reuters reported.

He added:

The cancellation of this meeting also had a positive side. Greece’s just demand for the reunification of the Parthenon sculptures received even more publicity, not only in the UK but also internationally.

Downing Street had said the planned meeting was cancelled because the Greek prime minister reneged on assurances that he would not use a UK visit as a “public platform” to lobby for the return of Parthenon marbles to Athens. The Greek side has denied any such assurances were given.

Sakellaropoulou expressed support for the push to return the sculptures, the Greek daily Kathimerini reported.

The president said:

The reunification of the sculptures, a request made since the establishment of the [modern Greek] state, has garnered understanding from the international community and the British public, marking a significant gain. The just demand of our country will find a response.

Read more on the row here.

Updated at 06.11 EST

04.54 EST

Addressing media reports that Poland plans to send troops to Finland’s border with Russia, the Kremlin said today that such a move could stoke tensions, Reuters reported.

Moscow would see it as a threat, the Kremlin said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “This is an absolutely redundant measure to ensure border security, because there is no threat there, there is no tension in reality.”

He added:

That is why tension may arise during the concentration of additional units on our border, because the Finns must be clearly aware that this will pose a threat to us – an increase in the concentration of military units on our borders.

Updated at 05.27 EST

03.26 EST

Turkey told Sweden it expects Nato bid ratification ‘within weeks’, Swedish minister says

Tobias Billström, Sweden’s foreign minister, told reporters this morning that “it is high time to get the ratification done by both Türkiye and also by Hungary of course, and this was a clear message sent by the foreign ministers”.

For months, Turkey and Hungary have delayed ratification of Sweden’s Nato membership, fuelling frustration within the military alliance.

Speaking as Nato ministers meet in Brussels, Billström said:

We have a very dangerous moment in time for Europe and for the world – and for Nato as an organisation. With the security deteriorating and also with the war in Ukraine, Sweden’s membership in Nato is very important for the organisation.

Billström said he met his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan yesterday.

He told me that he expected the ratification to take place within weeks. And of course, we don’t take anything for granted from the side of Sweden, but we look forward to this being completed.

And no new conditions were put forward in this conversation, there were no new demands from the Turkish government, so we look [at] our part as being fulfilled.

The Swedish minister also said that Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, has repeated that Hungary will not be the last to ratify.

Billström added:

That means that it is more in the hands of Ankara than maybe of Budapest. We expect white smoke from Budapest the moment there is white smoke from Ankara, to put it very bluntly.

Updated at 03.38 EST