This week, focus on the vote which took place this Thursday, February 15 in Athens. The National Assembly adopted by a large majority, but after heated debates, the right to marriage and adoption for homosexual couples. And the question of this column is the following: with this vote, is Greece carrying out a small societal revolution?
Greece is a Mediterranean country, member of the European Union, historical mother of democracy. But contemporary Greece is also a country where the model of society, particularly with regard to the family, remains quite traditional, with an Orthodox Church still very powerful, and there is no real separation between the church and political power.
Certainly, in 2015 there was a first step forward with the possibility of a civil union between people of the same sex. But marriage, and a fortiori the right to adoption and the recognition of same-sex parental rights, was another story.
A bill carried by a right-wing Prime Minister
And the paradox is that it was a conservative Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who brought this text. He did this in part to anchor Greece a little more in the camp of the most progressive countries in terms of European values within the Union. At a time when the European Parliament has just become alarmed “ very serious threats to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in Greece “, in particular freedom of the press.
It is therefore a right-wing Prime Minister who has a progressive text adopted with the votes of the left, a bit as happened in France with the Veil law on abortion. It was in particular the Syriza party which allowed the adoption of the text, a formation whose current leader is the first openly homosexual Greek politician.
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The debates were long, heated and passionate between opponents and supporters of this “law for civil equality”, including within Mr. Mitsotakis’s party, New Democracy. Some of the deputies even refused to vote.
First Orthodox Christian country
In the end, the text was largely adopted by the unicameral Parliament, the “Vouli”. The fierce opposition of the Orthodox Church, which more than 90% of Greeks support, could not have prevented anything. And beyond this text, it is also a form of secular emancipation of the country which is manifested.
In any case, a courageous decision for the Greek Prime Minister, who is also thinking of taking advantage of it on the European level, for the image of his country abroad, and undoubtedly for his own, in case he thinks of European functions in the future.
For everyone involved, this is of course a historic moment. From now on, they not only have the same obligations, but also the same rights as other citizens. And Greece becomes the 17th country in the European Union to authorize marriage for same-sex couples, the 37th in the world, and, more symbolically, the 1st Orthodox Christian country.
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