The British newspaper cites statements by a high-ranking official of the British Museum, who speaks of a kind of "partnership" with Greece.
In particular, Jonathan Williams, calls "Greek partners and friends for a 'Parthenon partnership'" as, as he emphasizes, "he strongly believes that there is room for a renewed dynamic and positive debate, which will find new ways of cooperation".
The paper's editor, Sarah Baxter, adds after this statement the feature, "unscramble this diplomatic language as there is a new message: let's make a deal."
However, the "partnership" does not seem to depart from the previous British proposal for a "loan" which Greece rejects.
The high-ranking official of the British Museum repeats, moreover, the word "borrowing":
"The sculptures are an indisputably integral part of the Museum."
“There are a lot of great things that we would be thrilled to either lend or borrow. It's what we do," he says.
He rejected the ideas that have been put forward about faithful copies, saying, "people visit the British Museum to see the original, don't they?".
A similar proposal was formulated at the beginning of the summer by the head of the British Museum, George Osborne, speaking of the possibility of a partition agreement between Greece and Britain.
However, the president of the Acropolis Museum, Dimitris Pandermalis, spoke of maneuvering positions to stop the "noise" surrounding the return issue.
"This request is a maneuver to stop this noise around the sculptures without being a real solution. It is not a solution for someone to lend you something that you consider not to be their property," stressed Mr. Pantermalis.
At the same time, however, the readership of the online edition of The Times "votes" the return of the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece.
Specifically, the online poll shows that 78% of readers believe that the Sculptures should be returned to Athens, compared to 22% who are against. At least 7,000 readers have participated in the poll so far.
