It’s “a historic moment” obtained the day after Valentine’s Day. At the cost of long negotiations and a standoff within the government camp itself, Greece became on Thursday February 15 the 37th country in the world, the 16th in Europe, and above all the first Orthodox Christian country to authorize marriage and same-sex adoption. An affront to the influential Church which has always declared itself “firmly opposed” to the bill.
He predicted a "day of joy", calling this reform a "bridge of coexistence in a free State, between free citizens". Thursday evening, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (from the right-wing New Democracy party) welcomed the adoption of this reform, a flagship measure of his second term, calling it "a turning point for human rights".
A victory for the pro-European leader whose text was approved by 176 of the 254 deputies present in Parliament (Vouli) after two days of debate, and a real tour de force for a country long dominated by the Church, whose society today still includes no less than 90% Orthodox, and in which state and ecclesiastical institutions are not separated.
After violently encountering opposition from the Church and social conservatives for whom same-sex marriage undermines traditional family values, Thursday's vote was therefore a test to gauge Greece's progressivism and its ability to setting a new standard for LGBT+ rights in the Orthodox Christian world.
Few levers
“The Greek Church has taken quite a few blows over the past thirty years,” says Joëlle Dalègre, professor emeritus of history at Inalco, and specialist in contemporary Greece. “When the Greek state was created, the Ottoman heritage meant that people were defined by religion, therefore by orthodoxy,” she continues, referring to this important element of Greek national identity which earned the Orthodox Church an exceptional place and role.
The specialist specifies that the beginning of change took place in 1981 with the coming to power of Pasok (Greek centre-left political party). The same year, Greece entered the European Union. “Little by little, the Church lost its privileges.” A phenomenon linked in particular to a change in life in Greece and public opinion. “The Greeks wanted to get closer to the traditional Western European model with the impression that this is the cultural model to follow to be great, developed and modern.”
Since then, the Church has bowed to several reforms, including the creation of civil marriage then that of the "common life pact" (equivalent to the PACS, created in 2008 for heterosexual couples, then opened to homosexual couples in 2015, after a condemnation of Greece by the European Court of Human Rights), or even the relaxation of Orthodox teaching at school.
“Each time there has been a setback, it has caused a stir in public opinion,” explains Joëlle Dalègre, also taking the example of the removal of the mention of religion on Greek identity documents. “Each time, it is a step backwards on the part of the Church. Each time it protested, but was not listened to.”
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As soon as the government announced its intention to open marriage to same-sex couples, the Orthodox Church stepped up, calling for a roll-call vote in Parliament, which was seen as an attempt to pressure on certain deputies.
To oppose a reform going against its dogmas, the Church of Greece, however, has few significant levers. Indeed, if the ecclesiastical institution could still use threats against elected officials a few decades ago, today this seems to have the effect of sword blows in the water.
"Local metropolitans have again tried to put pressure on deputies in certain regions, rural and far from the two largest cities (Athens and Thessaloniki, editor's note), which in terms of morals are still very traditional, but putting pressure on deputies from the center of Athens is of no use", explains Joëlle Dalègre, also author of "Greece since 1945" (Greek studies).
The historian adds that if the threat of excommunication of deputies was common in the 1950s and 1960s, seven decades later, it too seems vain: "They would be too afraid that it would not move many people."
“The Church of Greece has no more legal means than elsewhere to prevent a political decision,” explains Méropi Anastassiadou, professor of history at Inalco, specialist in contemporary Greece and the Ottoman and post-war space. -Ottoman. “It can only use its own 'tools',” she adds, citing in particular excommunication, preaching, and opinion relays in civil society.
“In the recent past, it has succeeded in creating significant movements of opinion,” continues the historian, referring to the issue of identity cards and that of school history textbooks. “The Church has media (for example radio), and remains very present in the everyday life of a significant part of society.”
Lately, opinion movements have mainly taken the form of public protest. Alongside far-right political parties – including Niki, a far-right party close to Russia – and traditionalist groups, a few thousand demonstrated in front of parliament on Sunday, brandishing icons of the Virgin and Christian crosses. .
Demonstrators opposed to the opening of marriage and adoption to homosexual couples brandish Greek flags, crosses, Orthodox icons and signs reading “NO”, February 11, 2024 in Athens. © Aris Messinis, AFP
However, in a country marked by ten years of economic crisis which led to the imposition of strict austerity measures, an explosion in the unemployment rate, serial privatizations in numerous sectors, and more recently a dramatic railway accident, serious floods and the dismay of farmers, the demonstrations no longer seem to have anything exceptional. Also, adds Joëlle Dalègre, “finding 4,000 demonstrators in Athens is not difficult.”
Church and State, “increasingly separated de facto”
Orthodoxy undoubtedly remains an element of identity in Greece, but in practice things are changing quickly. If its establishment had not taken place without opposition, civil marriage – at the time considered by the Church as a “catastrophic bomb” lodged in the very foundations of Greek society – is today increasingly increasingly popular, and the “common life pact” is also developing over the years.
"Alexis Tsipras (former left-wing Prime Minister, in 2015, and from 2015 to 2019, Editor's note) could theoretically have made this law [on marriage for all] ten years ago, but did not do it because "he still feared strong reactions", analyzes Joëlle Dalègre.
In the period preceding the adoption of the law on marriage for all, the current Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis always left the Church out of the subject, presenting his project above all as a modern, democratic measure, allowing equality between all citizens.
“Let me be clear on this point: we are discussing the decisions of the Greek state, unrelated to theological convictions,” he declared in a speech to his cabinet.
“Historically, we have had divergent opinions with the Church on civil marriage, cremation and the omission of religion on Greek identity cards,” he further declared. "Experience has shown that these changes were necessary. They have not harmed society or the collaboration between State and Church, and I am convinced that it will be the same from now on."
MP from the Syriza party (left), Elena Akrita similarly believes that the position of the Church should not be taken into account, given that it "is not an interlocutor" in this discussion.
“Successive governments have taken several opportunities over the last ten or 15 years to tell it that it cannot get involved in issues that fall within the competence of state authorities,” says Méropi Anastassiadou, referring in particular to the subject. vaccines against Covid, the Orthodox clergy having been very reluctant to be vaccinated.
"The Church is still influential in Greece, but at the same time we should take into account the fact that homosexuality is perhaps, latently, admitted more than elsewhere in a society impregnated (through education) by ancient Greek culture,” she continues.
Also, if the Church and the State are not legally separated (the clergy in particular are still employed by the State), "they are more and more separated de facto, but we do not say it", believes Joëlle Dalègre .
Thursday evening, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was proud to make Greece the 16th EU country to legislate in favor of marriage for all. “The very first in its South-East”, specifies its economic advisor Alex Patelis to the Greek media eKathimerini, underlining the geographical and geopolitical dimensions of this historic law.
This bill “could encourage more Eastern European bloc countries, as well as more right-wing cabinets, to follow suit and consider similar inclusive policies,” the article continues, referring to the impact of the reform as far as Italy, which so far only recognizes civil unions for same-sex couples, as well as the Czech Republic, which is currently debating the introduction of a bill similar to Greece .
When it comes to influencing other countries with an Orthodox majority, however, nothing is less certain. “In Russia, Putin is not out to marry homosexual couples,” quips Joëlle Dalègre. As for Romania or even Bulgaria, the historian adds: "Compared to the path that Greece is taking with regard to religion, they are at least 40 years behind", which therefore does not leave foresee developments in this direction, "unless any European legislation forces them to do so."
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