Greece’s Mitsotakis makes progressive pivot with same-sex marriage bill

ATHENS — Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis — the EU’s highest-profile center-right prime minister — is not the most likely candidate to bring in a landmark bill legalizing same-sex marriage, planned for a vote next week.

Indeed, this is a reform that plays so badly with Mitsotakis’ traditionalist core in the Christian Orthodox nation that he’s going to rely on support from leftist opposition parties to pass the legislation on Feb. 15. Around a quarter of his own MPs will not support him.

The church is — unsurprisingly — up in arms, with Archbishop Ieronymus, its most senior cleric, having said the topic should go to a national referendum. Metropolitan bishops across the country are organizing rallies on Sunday, while Seraphim, the Metropolitan of Piraeus, called gay marriage a sin and warned MPs that “those who vote for it cannot remain members of the church.”

Given that traditional family values would normally be the preserve of Mitsotakis’ conservative New Democracy party, it does beg the question of what he’s up to, but most analysts reckon he’ll emerge not only unscathed, but even strengthened by his progressive push.

Having already shored up his hold over the right, Mitsotakis is in a position to maneuver to the liberal center and do even more damage to Greece’s devastated left, which is also profoundly divided over same-sex marriage. Bringing his country in line with 20 other European states burnishes his credentials as a key player in the EU mainstream, potentially allowing him to pursue big EU jobs after his term ends.

Mitsotakis is portraying his bill, which will also recognize the right of same-sex couples to adopt, as a purely ethical decision, “a matter of equality.” He said it was not acceptable in a democracy “to have two classes of citizens and certainly not to have children of a lesser God.”

Analysts, however, noted he was now so impregnable on the right, after a landslide victory last year, that he was free to encroach on the territory of centrists and liberals when it suited him.

“The fact that New Democracy has some officials in government that support the super conservative agenda, allows the party to adopt ad hoc fragments of this [progressive] agenda, depending on what serves its interest at any given moment,” said political analyst Panagiotis Koustenis, adding that if there is eventually some political cost in the polls, it will be limited and will be absorbed.

European mainstream

Greek media have speculated that Mitsotakis could also be playing to an international audience, hoping to repair the damage to his government’s reputation from a spy scandal and concerns over media freedoms.

If he is maneuvering in the direction of Brussels, however, it’s unlikely to be for several years, or at least not before his four-year term expires in 2027. Mitsotakis would find it difficult to land a big job after the June European election, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who are looking to stay at the top table, both hail from the European People’s Party, the same political family as the Greek PM.

The most prominent dissenter in the ruling party is former PM Antonis Samaras, who has decried the idea that MPs should abstain from the vote.

State Minister Makis Voridis, another high-profile rebel, has said he intends to abstain from the vote, but argued the bill has “issues of constitutionality.” Voridis is probably the first minister in Greece’s modern history to openly oppose significant legislation from his own government but then continue to take part in it.

The most prominent dissenter in the ruling party is former PM Antonis Samaras, who has decried the idea that MPs should abstain from the vote | Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP via Getty Images

“These internal ultra conservative voices, when expressed as a reaction or as a protest and not as an official line of the party, work in favor of Mitsotakis’ moderate profile,” Koustenis said.

Divided left

Indeed, it’s not just the right that is divided over gay marriage and adoptions.

The left-wing Syriza party is led by Stefanos Kasselakis, Greece’s first openly gay party leader, who recently married his partner in the U.S. Kasselakis announced he would impose a party line in favor of the legislation, but leading party figures openly disagreed with this decision. One of his closest allies, the outspoken Pavlos Polakis, said he would struggle to defend the bill among his traditionalist constituents in the mountains of Crete.

The position of the center-left Pasok party remains unclear, wobbling as it does between political expediency and principle. Its leader, Nikos Androulakis, stated the opposition should not be exploited to solve the ruling party’s internal divisions and that he “will not tie Mitsotakis’ shoelaces for him.”

The KKE Communist party said it opposes the legislation, arguing that “same-sex marriage means abolishing paternity-maternity.”

Elena Olga Christidi, a psychologist and scientific associate at the Orlando LGBT+ campaign organization, took in the political maneuvers and debates with dismay. “It is sad that such a key issue is not supported with immediate reflexes,” she said.

Syriza party leader Stefanos Kasselakis announced he would impose a party line in favor of the legislation, but leading party figures openly disagreed with this decision | Dimitris Kapantais/SOOC/AFP via Getty Images

“We are talking about a key human rights’ issue, and even in this conservative form that it is adopted, with the PM presenting it by using conservative slogans, the parties of the so-called progressive arc cannot just say they support it.”

Greece remains among those EU countries with a majority still (narrowly) opposed to same-sex marriage, along with Poland and Hungary, according to a poll by Pew Research Center.

Under the previous left-wing Syriza government, Greece recognized same-sex unions in 2015, but stopped short of supporting full marriage.

The Orlando LGBT+ NGO considers the legislation incomplete as it doesn’t allow surrogacy, a right reserved for heterosexual couples. It is widely expected that this distinction will be annulled by European courts.

Christidi said the argument that “everything will be solved at the European court is not okay in a democracy. That should be the exception.”

“The mood is not the pleasant festive mood we collectively expected to have when the day would finally come,” she added. “A sense of numbness is unfortunately prevailing.”