The leader of Greece's main opposition party, Syriza, announced on Friday the impending submission of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, while the prime minister appeared to want to delay implementation of that promise.
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“I asked to (…) present the marriage for all law proposal as soon as Parliament reopens,” Stefanos Kasselakis wrote on his Facebook page (Meta) after the end-of-year break.
“Following the Prime Minister’s decision yesterday (Thursday) to postpone his own bill, this is my only option,” he ruled.
Mr. Kasselakis was responding to statements by conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who said on Thursday: “Don’t put the horse back. We first explain what we want to do and then discuss the schedule.
The Greek media saw this sentence as an indication that the right-wing government wanted to postpone the submission of a corresponding bill.
Shortly after his re-election in June, Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced that he wanted to legalize same-sex marriage in his second term to ensure that Greek society was now prepared.
But in a country where the Orthodox Church exercises great influence and where a significant part of the population sees the family made up of opposite-sex parents as the basis of society, his initiative has provoked strong reactions.
Several right-wing politicians have announced their opposition to a reform that would legalize the adoption of children by same-sex couples.
In a 1,500-page text, the Orthodox Church, which is little known for its progressive positions, also expressed its strong opposition.
She particularly condemns the raising of children by homosexual couples, as they are treated as “accessories” and “pets”.
According to a Pulse poll for the Skaï channel, the majority of Greeks (52%) are in favor of gay marriage, but 47% of respondents do not want “legal recognition of the children of same-sex couples.”
The government is unlikely to move forward on the issue before European elections in June for fear of depriving itself of the votes of even the most conservative wing of the ruling New Democracy (ND).
Civil partnerships have existed in Greece since 2015. However, in the case of same-sex couples with children, only the biological parent has rights to these children.