Rights of lone minors were not protected, with some deported and others left homeless for months
Spain, Greece and Hungary have been rebuked by courts for failing to protect the rights of children.
It adds to a string of recent rulings that have reprimanded countries across Europe over the treatment of lone minors who are seeking asylum.
Continue reading...European court of human rights orders Athens to pay €80,000 to family of Belal Tello, who died after 2014 incident
The European court of human rights has ruled that Greece violated a Syrian refugee’s right to life when coastguards fired more than a dozen rounds at the people smugglers’ boat he was on nearly a decade ago.
The Strasbourg-based court ordered Greece to pay €80,000 (about £68,000) in damages to the wife and two children of Belal Tello, who was shot in the head as Greek coastguards attempted to halt the boat he was travelling in. Tello died in 2015, after months in hospital.
Continue reading...Thousands flock to see the Palace of Aigai, the largest surviving classical Greek building, after 16-year reconstruction completed
For 2,170 years it had lain in ruins: a palace that symbolised the golden age of antiquity, three times bigger than the Parthenon, unprecedented in architectural ambition, unparalleled in beauty.
It was here in 336BC that the king of ancient Macedonia, Philip II, was murdered; and here in the great peristyle – or columned courtyard – around which its banqueting halls coalesced that his 20-year-old son, Alexander the Great, would be proclaimed king, a moment that would change the course of history.
Continue reading...MPs in his own cabinet are against move, while powerful Orthodox church fears it could lead to dismantling society
The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, appears to be facing one of his most daunting challenges yet after a pledge to legalise same-sex marriage ignited fierce debate in the Orthodox Christian country.
Throwing his weight behind an issue still prone to provoke extraordinary emotion, not least among his own MPs, Mitsotakis acknowledged he would have to use his skills of persuasion to push through the reform as opposition mounted within his centre-right New Democracy party.
Continue reading...James Dalamangas was allegedly involved in the death of George Giannopoulos in a Sydney nightclub in 1999
Australian police are issuing a global plea to locate one of the country’s most wanted men who they say fled to Greece after allegedly stabbing a man to death in a Sydney nightclub 25 years ago.
James Dalamangas is wanted over his alleged involvement in the murder of George Giannopoulos in Belmore, in Sydney’s south-west, in April 1999.
Continue reading...Then PM was advised to ‘encourage’ British Museum to agree long-term loan in return for Greek support
Tony Blair considered a “long-term loan” of the Parthenon marbles to Greece in the hope of support for a London 2012 Olympic Games bid, newly released documents reveal.
Twenty years before Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, over the ownership question of the sculptures, Greece was lobbying Blair, the then prime minister, for a long-term loan, bypassing the issue of ownership.
Continue reading...Culture minister Lina Mendoni pledges to ‘fill the void’ at British Museum should ancient sculptures be returned to Athens
Greece is prepared to part with some of its greatest treasures to “fill the void” at the British Museum if the Parthenon marbles were reunited in Athens, the country’s culture minister has said.
Speaking to the Guardian at the end of a momentous year for the campaign to retrieve the fifth-century BC masterpieces, Lina Mendoni promised that the London institution’s revered Greek galleries would never go empty.
Continue reading...Legislation comes at a time when anti-immigrant sentiment is fuelling far-right support across Europe
Thousands of migrants are to have their papers legalised in Greece as part of efforts to curb an acute labour shortage that is hitting key sectors of an otherwise resurgent economy.
In a move that has thrown his centre-right party into turmoil, the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, pushed through legislation on Tuesday regularising the status of about 30,000 unregistered labourers.
Continue reading...Architect of Brexit calls for closer Anglo-Greek cultural ties, with sections held elsewhere in Europe also sent back
Britain should be part of a pan-European effort to bring the Parthenon marbles back to Greece, according to an architect of Brexit, who said the UK should make a grand gesture to create closer diplomatic and cultural relations between the two countries.
David Frost, a chief Brexit negotiator, called for a deal between Britain and Greece that would put the long-running dispute to bed, with the sculptures returned to Greece for the first time since the early 1800s when they were taken by Lord Elgin. At present they are in the British Museum’s collection.
Continue reading...Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International claim that authorities failed to mobilise ‘appropriate resources’, while Greece says the ship’s crew refused assistance
Human rights groups have deplored the lack of progress made by Greek authorities in their investigation into the controversial circumstances in which a migrant ship sank off the Peloponnese – leaving more than 500 dead – in one of the Mediterranean’s worst ever boat disasters.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International claim there are credible allegations that the Hellenic Coast Guard’s “actions and omissions” contributed to the 14 June shipwreck.
Continue reading...President of Turkey signs friendship accord, saying longtime foes could provide ‘an example to the world’
Greece and Turkey have sought to put years of tensions behind them with a friendship accord signed during a historic visit to Athens by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The two Nato members – longtime foes in the air and sea – agreed to reset ties, sealing a “declaration on good neighbourly relations” which, it is hoped, will pave the way to settling disputes that have defied resolution for decades, including over undersea energy resources and the divided island of Cyprus.
Continue reading...Erdoğan told the Greek head of state that his visit to Athens hailed the start of a new era between the two countries
Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, cannot be allowed to “blackmail” the rest of the EU by threatening to block Ukraine membership talks unless it releases withheld funds to Hungary, centre-left MEPs have said.
“This is a make or break moment for the EU,” said Pedro Marques, vice chair of the Socialist and Democratic group in the European parliament.
At a moment in which the US Congress has just outvoted a proposal by Joe Biden to continue to support Ukraine, we cannot put ourselves in a situation where the Ukrainians see that we are also not capable of continuing to assist them.
It also not acceptable, from my point of view, that anyone gets the perception that at the end of next week, Orbán got his way and got his €30bn in exchange for allowing the EU to continue to assist Ukraine.
Ministers of the two countries will have constructive meetings. We’ll discuss what steps we can take on all issues. Preparations have been made by ministers … I believe it will be better for the future of both sides to speak seeing the glass half full.
Continue reading...Analysts believe better ties with Greece are key to repairing Turkey’s strained relationship with Europe
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will be arriving in Athens on Thursday for the first time in six years, determined to move on with a “win-win approach” from the disputes and tensions left by his previous trip to the city.
The last time the Turkish leader visited the Greek capital – exactly six years ago to the day – what had been billed a historic tour descended into a verbal theatre of war as Erdoğan, dispensing with diplomatic niceties, went on the offensive.
Continue reading...Health ministry says posters in English outside apartment buildings in Athens were ‘absolutely false’
Greece’s health ministry is seeking police help against hoaxers who tried to scare foreign tourists out of short-term rental apartments in Athens by inventing a bedbug crisis.
A ministry statement said the posters stuck up outside apartment buildings in the city centre, festooned with fake ministry and Athens municipality logos, were “absolutely false”.
Continue reading...Cancellation of meeting with Greek PM has Europeans wondering how Cameron will work with No 10
The Greek foreign minister, Giorgos Gerapetritis, was attending a two-day Nato summit in Brussels on Tuesday when he received an unexpected message from the British delegation. The foreign secretary, David Cameron, was hoping the minister might be available for an unscheduled meeting. There was much to discuss on migration, as well as the relief operation in Gaza. There was one condition from the UK: that there be no cameras.
Gerapetritis readily agreed, and one can only assume it took only an un-minuted raised eyebrow from Lord Cameron for the former prime minister to distance himself discreetly from Rishi Sunak’s bizarre decision to cancel a scheduled Downing Street visit with his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, set for 12.30pm on Tuesday.
Continue reading...PM reaffirms stance after George Osborne suggests snub to Greek counterpart was result of ‘petulance’
Rishi Sunak has denied having a “hissy fit” over the Parthenon marbles row and has said they cannot be returned to Greece “as a matter of law”.
The prime minister this week accused his Greek counterpart of using a trip to London to “grandstand” over the issue of the ancient Greek sculptures.
Continue reading...Prime minister escalates row with Athens counterpart in first public comments after cancelling their meeting
Rishi Sunak has intensified his diplomatic spat with his Greek counterpart, accusing Kyriakos Mitsotakis of using his recent trip to London to “grandstand” over the issue of the Parthenon sculptures.
The prime minister told MPs on Wednesday he had cancelled a planned meeting with Mitsotakis in London on Tuesday because the Greek prime minister had reneged on a promise not to use the trip as an opportunity to advocate for the sculptures’ return.
Continue reading...Tristram Hunt says trustees should be able to ‘make case’ for items to be retained or returned to countries of origin
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 V&A, 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 Rishi Sunak abruptly cancelled a meeting with the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Continue reading...War of words between Athens and London escalates after Rishi Sunak’s snub to Greek prime minister
Rishi Sunak’s snub of his Greek counterpart over the Parthenon marbles raised fresh questions about Britain’s fraught relations with its European neighbours as a war of words between Athens and London escalated on Tuesday.
A meeting on Tuesday between Sunak and Kyriakos Mitsotakis 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 the marbles to Athens, Downing Street said. The Greek side has denied any such assurances were given.
Continue reading...Levelling up secretary breaks away from evidence at Covid inquiry to apologise for ‘errors I and others made’
Gove breaks away from the line of questioning to issue an apology.
I want to take this opportunity, if I may, to apologise to the victims who endured so much pain, the families who’ve endured so much loss, as a result of the mistakes that were made by government in response to the pandemic.
And as a minister, responsible for the Cabinet Office, and who was also close to many of the decisions that were made, I must take my share of responsibility for that.
Continue reading...