Geez, somehow I didn’t even realize that they were named after the guy who stole them, not where they were taken from or anything about the culture they were made in. How gross is that?
Greece has won an unlikely ally in its campaign to retrieve the Parthenon marbles from the British Museum after Turkey publicly rejected the claim that Lord Elgin had received permission from Ottoman authorities to remove antiquities from the Acropolis.
Boz, who also spoke to Greece’s state broadcaster, ERT, said the only evidence that had been found was an edict written in Italian but that it neither contained the sultan’s signature nor seal, which would have confirmed it had come from the Imperial court.
Crews working at the behest of Elgin began removing statuary from the monumental frieze that once adorned the Parthenon with marble saws and other machinery in 1801 – an endeavour that would take more than a decade.
Boz conceded she had felt obliged to intervene when the UK’s representative in a recent meeting of Unesco’s Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property in Paris reiterated that the sculptures were bought legally during the Ottoman era.
“The British Museum has always maintained that the treasures were purchased legally; it’s been its central argument,” said Irene Stamatoudi, a professor of cultural heritage law who advises the Greek government on the issue.
Describing the artworks’ restoration to the place where they were carved 5,000 years ago as a “national goal”, the Greek culture minister, Lina Mendoni, said Turkey’s intervention had essentially bolstered Athens’ case.
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The group’s vision might have stayed a dream had city hall not passed a plan for 15 to 20 cooperative housing projects within four years, half of them self-built.
To their amazement, they were accepted – perhaps, said Nerl, precisely because of their youth, and because, as recent graduates, they might be assumed to be capable of navigating their way through a labyrinth of rules, regulations and bureaucracy.
They secured a team of architects with experience in non-profit cooperative projects, raised the money to pay them, and presented a plan for a four-storey, timber-clad, sustainably built block of 40 apartments, from studios to three-bedders.
Through a mixture of loans from a bank and city hall, crowdfunding from friends and family and two bond issues, the 26-member group has raised almost €9m of the estimated €12 to €13m construction cost.
“Even now it’s been a rollercoaster ride: when building costs soared after Russia invaded Ukraine, there was a truly awful moment when we thought it might not happen after all.”
But by late next year or early 2026, the group should be thinking about moving into a carbon-neutral home complete with roof-top solar panels, communal spaces on each floor, guest rooms, a shared toolshed, a stage and a music studio in the basement.
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I was curious how this was received on European community on that commercial Lemmy-like site. It's got about same amount of upvotes as it does on Lemmy XD
This whole "thing" is one giant rabbit hole. Getting from bad, worse and then ,"the worst".
I hope we near the end of it, but I wouldn't be surprised if we are we only halfway establishing the ammount of foreign infiltrations and influences.
Good they've gotten busy with it, finally.
The parties of the EU are quite a mistery to me though. I know my national parties, but what is the european green party? I'm inclined to vote Volt, but are they part of the green party?
Volt and the green party are two different parties. The European green party has roughly the same goals as your national green party but on an European level.
As far as I can tell volt is similar to the green party but with sometimes more radical goals. I'm not sure if I'm understanding the trans European part correctly, but while (for example) the green party members always have their own countries benefit in mind volt works more focussed on European goals, strengthening the EU first and foremost.
If you usually vote green volt seems like a solid alternate choice.
No, they are not. They are part of "The Greens/European Free Alliance" political group in the parliament alongside the European Green Party and some other smaller green and regionalistic parties.
Edit: however, the quote from the article speaks about the parliamentary group not the party, therefore this would imply that Volt is on board with this statement or Damian von Boeselager is, who is the only Volt MEP to date.
Volt is not part of the European Green Party.
But within the EP European and national parties with overlapping goals form groupings.
Volt joined the Green grouping (Greens/EFA) after the last election. As far as I know they might join the green grouping again or go with the liberal grouping (Renew/ALDE). They share goals with both of them. I would label them progressive liberals.
Green members of the European parliament will not support Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as the commission president if she makes a deal with hard-right nationalists, the party’s joint lead candidate has said.
The intervention deepens the dilemma for von der Leyen, the clear frontrunner for the commission top job, after a similar pledge from the centre left, which has said it will not support her if she works with hard-right parties, including Meloni’s Brothers of Italy.
Von der Leyen is seeking a second five-year term as commission president at the EU elections on 6-9 June, where nationalist and far-right parties across Europe are expected to make significant gains at the expense of the traditional centre-right, social democrats, liberals and greens.
While the mainstream centre-right European People’s party (EPP), which includes von der Leyen’s German Christian Democrats (CDU), is likely to remain the biggest force in the parliament, with a possible 175 MEPs, she has to secure a much broader coalition.
So for me, this is going to be the key question: Is there going to be a majority that is continuing the green deal, that is standing firm on democracy, on rule of law, in the next European parliament to back Ursula von der Leyen or whatever other candidate.
Rival candidates have excoriated von der Leyen for failing to mention the complaints of Italian journalists who have alleged “suffocating control” from Meloni’s government over their work.
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The bilateral deal was agreed two days after Russia’s onslaught in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv killed 18 people, and as EU leaders grow increasingly exasperated with Hungary’s efforts to block aid to Ukraine.
“[This deal] will allow Ukraine to boost its capabilities, including its essential air defence systems to protect its civilians, cities and infrastructure, which are still suffering indiscriminate attacks as seen this weekend in Kharkiv,” Sánchez told a press conference after the signing.
Zelenskiy, who recently issued a desperate plea for world leaders to attend a “peace summit” next month in Switzerland, said he had briefed Sánchez on the situation on the frontline and was grateful to Spain for its “tangible and truly life-saving support”.
But he said Ukraine still urgently needed another seven US-made Patriot air defence systems to stop Russia using Soviet-era glide bombs to hit the power grid and civilian areas.
Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, told reporters in Brussels that analysis showed Hungary had blocked nearly half of all declarations on Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022.
He also said he believed a mechanism that would allow the EU to remove Hungary’s ability to vote on bloc-wide foreign policy decisions was not a viable option because it requires unanimity.
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theguardian.com
Heiß