1 September 2017
Subject: Draft Working paper
"The
Return of the Parthenon Sculptures and the Cultural Heritage of Europe"
Origin: Australian
Committee for the Return of the Parthenon Sculptures
Objective: For
consideration and discussion
by the Greek and European Union authorities
Remarks:
The attached working paper on "The
Return of the Parthenon Sculptures and the Cultural Heritage of Europe” contains
the main principles of a suggested European Union position in this regard, to be presented to the United Kingdom in the context of
negotiations under Article 50 of the Treaty of the European
Union (TEU)
I have climbed the Acropolis today in all humility, acutely
conscious of that which it has bestowed upon the world. For this place, infused
with the spirit of the gods and with the valour of heroes, shelters within its
recesses masterpieces that have left the irreplaceable mark of their grandeur
on our Earth.
Director-General
of the UNESCO Frederico Mayor (1989)
The wholeness of the Parthenon demands our respect and
warrants every effort to reunify it … Let us, for a moment, consider the state
of the central figures of the west pediment. Poseidon’s shoulders are held in
London while his pectoral and abdominal muscles remain in Athens … This deliberate
and sustained dismemberment of what are some of the most sublime images ever
carved by humankind brings shame on those who work to uphold this state of
affairs.
Joan
Breton Connelly, “The Parthenon Enigma” (2014)
The Parthenon Marbles are for many people in Europe and
outside of Europe the major symbol of the oldest and most important
contribution which has ever been made by any people to European civilisation,
with such an intensity that this contribution has also become decisive for
universal civilisation.
Miguel Angel Martinez Martinez
(Vice
President of the European Parliament)
I. Introduction
1. The Parthenon Sculptures, comprising the sculptured
pediments, metopes and frieze removed by Lord Elgin and his men from the
Parthenon in Athens in the early part of the nineteenth century and placed in
the British Museum in 1816, symbolise the “entire body of unrepatriated
cultural property in the world’s museum” and constitute an “essential part of
our common past”.[1] In the more than two hundred years since
their removal, the Elgin collection of Parthenon Sculptures have become a
paradigm for forcibly-removed cultural treasures.
2. On 9 July 1961 Greece and the then European
Economic Community signed an agreement for Association which was hailed as
“linking the cradle of European civilisation with the nucleus of a united
Europe”.[2]
3. On 7 May 1999 the European Parliament issued a written
declaration stating, inter alia, that the Parliament took the view that the
“return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece would be a key move in promoting
Europe’s common cultural heritage”. The
Parliament also acknowledged that the Parthenon of the Acropolis and its
sculptures form an “integral and invaluable part of the European cultural and
architectural heritage.”[3]
4. The United Kingdom has given notification under Article 50
of the TEU of its proposed withdrawal from the EU as a Member State.
5. The EU is required to negotiate and attempt to conclude a
withdrawal agreement with the UK, setting out the arrangements for its
withdrawal, taking account of the framework for the withdrawing Member State’s future
relationship with the Union.
6. The agreement will be negotiated in the light of the
European Council guidelines and in line with the negotiating directives. The EU
expressly notes that its own negotiating directives may be amended and
supplemented as necessary throughout the negotiations, in particular to reflect
the European Council guidelines as they evolve and to take advantage of an “exceptional horizontal competence” to
cover all matters necessary to arrange the withdrawal.[4]
7. It is submitted that one of the issues that should be the
subject of direct negotiation between the EU and the UK is the reunification of
the Parthenon Sculptures currently on display in London with the remaining
Parthenon sculptural elements in the Acropolis Museum in Athens in order to
perfect the EU’s actual and principled commitment to the safeguarding and protection
of European cultural heritage.
II. A
Cultural Europe - principles and practice
8. The legal basis of the proposal is Article 167 of the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). This states that the EU
“shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while
respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing
the common cultural heritage to the fore”.
9. Article 167 has been described as “carrying the same
weight as that of the free movement of goods” and as conferring an “important
guarantee of respect for Member States’ cultural heritage as an indispensable
element of a global European culture”.[5]
10. The Treaty of Lisbon places great importance on culture:
the preamble to the TEU explicitly refers to “drawing inspiration from the
cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe”.
11. Article 3 of the TEU provides that the European Union
shall respect the Member States' rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and
ensure that Europe's cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced.
12. Article 6 of the TFEU states that the EU’s competences in
the field of culture are to “carry out actions to support, coordinate or
supplement the actions of the Member States”.
13. The EU has acknowledged the cultural dimension of the
Treaties and the EU’s external actions on many occasions as a reflection of the
fact that Europe’s cultural richness and diversity is closely linked to its
role and influence in the world.
14. Although the Council of Europe’s Directive 2014/60/EU provides that cultural objects which have been
unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State on or after 1 January
1993 shall be returned in accordance with the procedure and in the circumstances
set out in the Directive, it expressly acknowledges that each Member State may
apply the arrangements provided for in this Directive to requests for the
return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of other
Member States prior to 1 January 1993.[6]
15. In 2011 the European Parliament passed a resolution in
which it acknowledged, inter alia, that culture has intrinsic value, enriches
people’s lives and fosters mutual understanding and respect and further noted
that the European Agenda for Culture sets the strategic objective of promoting
culture as a “vital element” in the EU’s international relations. It further acknowledged that cultural
cooperation and cultural dialogue are the “building blocks of cultural
diplomacy”. [7]
16. The European Parliament re-affirmed that, in
terms of culture and European values, it wants to underline the crosscutting
nature and the importance of culture in all aspects of life and believes that
culture needs to be taken into consideration in all EU external policies in
line with article 167(4) of TFEU.
17. The European Parliament in this resolution emphasised the importance of cultural diplomacy and cultural co-operation in advancing and communicating throughout the world the EU’s and the Member States’ interests in the values that make up European culture, and further emphasised the need to adopt a “comprehensive approach to cultural mediation and cultural exchange and the role of culture in fostering democratisation, human rights, conflict prevention and peace building”.
18. The Parliament also urged that steps be taken to prevent the unlawful appropriation of cultural heritage and called for the adoption of a “coherent strategy for the protection and promotion of cultural and natural heritage”.
19. On 30 May 2014 the Council of Europe published its Conclusions on cultural heritage as a strategic resource for a sustainable Europe [8] in which it again noted that the European Treaty stipulates that the Union shall ensure that Europe's cultural heritage (consisting of the resources inherited from the past in all forms and aspects - tangible, intangible, including monuments, sites and landscapes) is safeguarded and enhanced, and again re-stated that cultural heritage is a major asset for Europe and an important component of the European project.
20. In 2017 the European Parliament endorsed an official communication Towards an EU strategy for international cultural relations [9] and, inter alia, specifically stated as follows:
(a) Culture is a common good and cultural heritage is a “universal legacy”;
(b) The communication towards an EU strategy for international cultural relations provides a framework for the EU’s international cultural relations and priorities;
(c) The EU and neighbouring states have historically influenced each other with regard to culture;
(d) The EU, as a key partner of the United Nations, should work closely with UNESCO to protect global cultural heritage; and
(e) Cultural diplomacy can function as an envoy of the EU and its Member States and help promote the role of cultural cooperation as a soft power tool in European external relations.
21. In terms of governance the European Parliament called for the establishment of a cultural diplomacy platform and called upon the European Commission to include culture in all existing and future bilateral and multilateral agreements in order to place further emphasis on the economic potential of cultural heritage.
22. In the context of an “inclusive and shared European narrative” the European Parliament also declared that the decision for the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 is an opportunity to “contribute to the promotion of cultural heritage, with an integrated approach, as an important element of the EU’s international dimension, building on the interest of partner countries on Europe’s heritage and expertise”.
23. And as the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Tibor Navracsics, has declared in support of the strategy to place culture at the heart of EU international relations:
"Culture is the hidden gem of our foreign policy. It helps to promote dialogue and mutual understanding. Culture is therefore crucial in building long-term relationships with countries across the whole world: it has a great role to play in making the EU a stronger global actor." [10]
III.
The case for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures
24. The historical and legal case for reunification of the Elgin collection is set out in the advice The Case for the Return of the Parthenon Sculptures provided in 2015 to the Greek Government by an eminent English team of lawyers led by Geoffrey Robertson QC. [11]
25. As Robertson reminds us, the Parthenon and its sculptures are the “keys to our ancient history”. And they are the cornerstone of European cultural heritage.
26. The Parthenon is a national cultural symbol which is important to Greece’s self-identity and deserving of protection under international law which is evolving and which recognises the sovereign right to claim unique cultural property of great historical significance taken in the past. This is no less true of the challenge posed to Europe’s universal cultural legacy.
27. The EU, in particular, recognises the importance value of “national treasures” as objects which constitute elements essential and integral to a nation’s heritage and history by reason of their artistic, historic or archaeological value. The Parthenon Sculptures are a national treasure par excellence which transcend Greek borders and relate directly to the European cultural identity and experience.
28. Despite requests, the British Government will not engage with Greece over its requests for the reunification of the marbles. For more than thirty years the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures has been discussed by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP), without any movement whatsoever from the British side. In 2015 attempts by UNESCO to facilitate mediation between the UK and Greece were rejected by the British side.
29. The British Museum Act has effectively locked up all legal remedies by the strict prohibition on deaccessioning and successive UK governments have stated that the issue of return is a matter for the British Museum which in turn claims that the sculptures in London now tell a different narrative and are separated both physically and historically from their Athenian birthplace.
30. The proposed withdrawal by the UK from the European Union - Brexit - offers the opportunity for the negotiating parties to honour the spirit and letter of the declaration by the European Parliament made more than a quarter of century ago that returning the Parthenon Sculptures would be a key move in promoting Europe’s common cultural heritage.
IV. Recommendations
31. Article 167 of the TFEU reflects the “formal recognition by the European Union of the significance of culture as a basic concern of the Union”.[12]
32. The Parthenon and its sculptures constitute the genesis of Europe’s cultural identity and memory and must be reunited on European soil.
33. As Europe prepares to celebrate the European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018 the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures is a matter that can and should be raised in the EU - UK negotiations as a legitimate expression of the EU’s genuine commitment to safeguard and enhance its cultural legacy.
34. As Rodi Kratsa MEP has written:
“The issue of the return of the Parthenon Marbles constitutes … a moral issue of European nature. It is a demand associated with the respect and integrity of the Parthenon, this landmark monument of European culture of universal significance. For this reason, the return of its Marbles is a moral obligation for the whole of Europe in the framework of the protection of our common cultural heritage.”[13]
35. The EU is strongly encouraged to enter into negotiations under Article 50 with a view to achieving an agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the Union and ideally a suitable framework of co-operation in the future that includes a satisfactory resolution of the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures as an integral component of the EU’s pledge to conserve and safeguard all cultural heritage of European significance.
George Vardas
[1]
Merryman, J H “Thinking about the Elgin Marbles” (1985) 83 Michigan Law
Review, p. 1985
[2]
"Athens ceremony for EEC/Greek Association” Bulletin from the European
community, July 1961, number 48
[3]
European Parliament, OJ C 135, 14/05/1999 (p. 118)
[4]
Negotiating directives - Council of the European Union (May 22 2017)
[5]
Irini Stamatoudi, Cultural Property Law and Restitution: A Commentary to
International Conventions and European Union Law (Edward Elgar 2011), pp. 127
& 128
[7]
European Parliament Resolution on 12 May 2011 OJ C 377E , 7.12.2012, p. 135.
[11]
This advice can be accessed at: http://www.helleniccouncil.org.au/docs/The%20Case%20for%20the%20Return%20of%20the%20Parthenon%20Sculptures.pdf
[12]
Irini Stamatoudi, Cultural Property Law and Restitution: A Commentary to
International Conventions and European Union Law (Edward Elgar 2011), p.129
[13]
Rodi Kratsa, MEP “Europe and the Parthenon Marbles: A Common Cause” in P. Van
Gene-Saillet (ed.) The reunification of the Parthenon Marbles: A European
Concern (Editions Bruylant, 2014) at p. 20
