Reaction of the Minister of Culture Linas Mendoni provoked accusations of “regime and barbaric perception at the expense of the country’s cultural heritage”, both from the President of SYRIZA, Alexis Tsiprasas well as the leaders of his party, on the occasion of the discussion at the plenary session of the bill on the “modernization of museum policy.”

“Rage Professionals”

L. Mendoni accused the officers of the official opposition of “hypocrisy and an attempt to use the reasonable fears of civilized people”, while arguing that “only 15% of all employees of the Ministry of Culture participate in the mobilizations of the art world”. Addressing him SYRIZA-PS, was talking about “professionals of rage”.

“The regime is established by those who want to control the junctions of power, not by the government of N. The regime of political brutality is established by those who sell 11,000 monuments to the Superfund and then try to collect them. Those who do not hesitate to extract from the ideologies of antiquity – from the Agia Sophia metro station – an equal and greater value than at the Venizelos station. Those who don’t care and then say that it’s about “cementing” for people with disabilities who want to visit the Acropolis and those who are supposed to be carved for art education,” said the Minister of Culture and added:

“If I’m not mistaken, for 4.5 years in the government there were the same people who react SYRIZA who did absolutely nothing for art education. Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the first prime minister who recognizes the problem that art education has been neglected over time, and therefore he has committed to establishing a Higher School of Performing Arts in the next three years. And the Ministry of Culture has been working in this direction since 2021, and by March 31, the three commissions that have already been created will give their opinion.”

Commenting on them artists reaction and parties demanding the abolition of the presidential decree, Ms. Mendoni countered that “DP. codified what was in force and applied in Greek law and public administration with regard to the extremely complex issue of the qualifications of artists.”

“There are many announcements for the recruitment of DE artists in the state under SYRIZA, and they highlight the deep hypocrisy of the official opposition,” the minister stressed.

“About 15% of employees of the Ministry of Culture took to the streets”

Referring to the controversy over the bill and the transformation of the country’s five largest museums into the NDPA, L. Mendoni cited statements by former SYRIZA government ministers of culture Myrsinis Zorbas and Nikos Khidakis, who, she said, favored a model similar to that of the Acropolis Museum and other museums, speaking of “professionals of anger”.

“We have not violated any labor rights and the artist wage law is based on the 2015 SYRIZA law. The people who took to the streets today against the bill are about 15% of the employees of the Ministry of Culture.. This is “mass mobilization”. We have heard of scientists who have rebelled against the bill. I believe that on the scales of SYRIZA, the good and excellent scientist Angelos Chaniotis counts more than many other brilliant scientists,” he said.

The 487 scientists that SYRIZA describes as reactants were not aware of the bill, the minister said, as the letter they sent was dated April 2021, before consultations began. “So what bill were the 487 against when they didn’t know the bill? What is certain is that in their letter to the Prime Minister they ask that no bill be introduced that would allow the 5 museums to be treated differently from the administration of the rest of the country’s antiquities. Therefore, since April 2021, some have warned 487 people in two years, that is, about the upcoming dangerous bill. They are ardent professionals who work very early and very methodically and use the reasonable anxieties and fears of the workers in favor of various other interests. Repeat. Today, 15% of all employees of the Ministry of Culture are participating in the strike,” said L. Mendoni.

He then spoke about the unreliability of SYRIZA, noting that on 20.06.2015 the then Minister of Culture Nikos Khidakis announced that legislation similar to the law on the Acropolis Museum and other museums would be passed in order for them to receive financial benefits. independence and transformation of NPDD.

L. Mendoni assured that she had no reason not to accept “the legal reflection put forward by the Scientific Council of the Parliament on the issue of applications, and instead of the existing provision in the bill of the Joint Ministerial Decision, become a more normative decree of the President.”

Finally, with regard to the export of antiquities abroad, the Minister emphasized that the Archeology Act of 2002 was fully respected, according to which their temporary rather than permanent export may be permitted for the purpose of exhibiting in museums or similar places, subject to sufficient guarantee and conditions are provided by decision of the Minister and after the conclusion of the Central Archaeological Council.

With information from APE-MPE