New Democracy

Greece's center-right government will soon submit legislation allowing same-sex civil marriages, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in Davos, Switzerland on Friday, voicing his optimism that the law will be voted in Parliament next month.

The Greek government is planning to speed up the submission of legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage, amid strong reactions within the Conservative party.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said the bill will extend full parental rights to gay couples but will not allow for medically assisted reproduction through a surrogate.

Six months after the national elections and another six months before the European Parliament elections, the ruling New Democracy (ND) party continues to dominate the precious political center, but with some scars.

A poll conducted by Prorata on the voters occupying the political center and their preferences in Greece showed that in the June elections some 58% of them voted for ND.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has chosen a low-drama approach in his effort to reform family law to allow same-sex couples to marry.

In a TV interview last Wednesday, Mitsotakis made it clear he wants to avoid intra-party tension, even as some MPs from his ruling New Democracy party, including a former prime minister, are loudly proclaiming their opposition.

Marriage equality legislation has managed to rattle the entire spectrum of the political system in Greece's conservative society, from the right to the left.

The bill on same-sex marriage has plunged ruling New Democracy and leftist opposition SYRIZA into turmoil.

Indicatively, ND lawmaker Antonis Samaras, a former conservative prime minister, said he opposed the choice of Premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis to suggest the solution of abstention to dissenting MPs. 

Former premier Antonis Samaras has indicated that he will vote against a bill legalizing same-sex marriage when it comes before parliament, thus appearing to reject a proposal of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that government MPs who disagree with the measure abstain in the relevant parliamentary vote.

The center-right Greek government's plans to legalize same-sex civil marriage received a major boost Thursday after the left-wing opposition leader pledged his party's backing in parliament.

SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis said he would instruct his lawmakers to vote for the proposal, although he argued that it didn't go far enough on parenthood rights.

Greece's opposition parties blasted the ruling New Democracy government of not doing enough to curb soaring prices and that the measures announced earlier on Wednesday are inadequate.
 

The credibility of the Parliament inquiry committee set up to investigate the Tempe train collision in central Greece last February, which cost the lives of 57 people, is being eroded by the acrimonious exchanges between the government and the opposition, even before key witnesses are examined.