In an interview that he gave to the Greek masthead, Kathimerini, the former ND prime minister Antonis Samaras opposed openly two priorities of the government. When he was asked whether he would vote for the bill on same-sex marriage, which is expected to be presented before Parliament in the next few months, Samaras said “No.”
The former prime minister said that the government “should support the ‘nuclear’ family, where there are parental models of both sexes. That is, there is a mother and a father. To deal with the demographic, we have to emphasize the nuclear family.”
Samaras added that “if we recognise marriage for them, we will be forced [..] later to recognize procreation for same-sex couples. But children need parental role models of both sexes. They need – and have the right – to have a mother and a father. Not ‘parent one’ and ‘parent two.'”
Samaras commented that the Greek society should “not confuse sexual preferences, which can be multiple, with the genders which are two. And let’s not confuse civil partnerships with the institution of a family raising children, which needs both sexes.”
Samaras reaffirmed his social-conservative values, but also confirmed that there is a schism within ND’s ranks when it comes to progressive reforms.
Samaras’ firm opposition to the government’s plans to pave the way for marriage equality in Greece means that New Democracy will need the support of parliamentarians from other parties to pass the bill.
PASOK, SYRIZA are largely expected to support the bill, which means that about only half of New Democracy’s parliamentarians will need to approve the bill. Prime minister Mitsotakis’ Minister of State – and Makis Voridis is also expected to not support the marriage equality.
Currently, Greece is one of the few countries – that have been part of EU since the 20th century – which does not recognise marriage quality; the other exception is Italy. Greece recognises the civil union between LGBTIQ, when the SYRIZA administration introduced and passed the bill.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis had voted in favour in 2015, and it remains to be seen whether he will succeed in convincing the majority of his current MPs to support his progressive initiative, which will align Greece with the rest of the EU on an important social issue.
