The passing of the civil marriage equality bill, the disagreements, the relations with the Church, but also the next day of the government were put on the carpet by the Minister of State – and rapporteur Minister of Law –Aki Scherzoin an interview with the television station “Sky”.
Initially, and to the question, “if the rift in New Democracy is deep”, the Minister of State answered: “The opposite. The way in which the prime minister has managed this difficult and charged issue, I think, indicates a political wisdom. It is based primarily on its own political, liberal philosophy and perception. The prime minister said that it is a necessary reform, which includes us in the area of freedoms and rights, to which belong 36 countries worldwide, of the western world. We have said that we want Greece to belong to the Western world, Greeks travel, live and work all over the world. They enjoy these rights in the rest of the western world and when they return to Greece, they don’t have them. In order to solve a series of practical problems faced by fellow citizens of Greece, when they live in Greece coming from abroad, we took this initiative. We harmonized Greek Law with European Law”.
But, he clarified, “because these issues are identitarian and touch people’s sensitive chords, they touch experiences, emotions, stereotypes, it is difficult for someone who is on the opposite side to change their mind in a few weeks. That is why we did not put party discipline as a hard line or, as SYRIZA did, which, although it claims to be a right-wing party, a progressive party, its leader put party discipline and threatens officials with sanctions. We don’t do that. The prime minister said, the executives, who disagree or have doubts or think regarding it and have not settled down, can either abstain or vote once morest it without this meaning that we will argue internally.”
Asked if those MPs of the ruling party who no longer voted for the law on equality in civil marriage are blacklisted, Mr. Skertsos replied: “In no case. New Democracy has always been the most coherent and powerful party, from the beginning of the post-colonial period until today, because it is a liberal faction in which different opinions can exist. But this does not lead to war, to conflict, to rupture. It is a broad and generous faction in the exchange of ideas, arguments and opinions. I experienced this personally in the past weeks.”
And, then, “New Democracy is a liberal, popular, European, reformist party and all that we implement, come to implement dictates of the Constitution. We are talking regarding freedom, equality, justice, European deepening – these are articles 4, 5, 9, 21, 28 of the Constitution. We are coming to implement the Constitution.”
In addition, “from yesterday’s very important day and vote I want to keep that we are talking regarding social rights and conquests, which require wider consents. It is a good moment for the Hellenic Republic,” he said, explaining that five parties voted for this legislative initiative. “This is how societies move forward, (the law) comes to complement social reforms and conquests that have begun since 1952, when women were given the vote. In 1982 when dowry was abolished, when domestic violence was criminalized, when women were given more rights. In 1986 when abortion was legalized. All these are steps towards more equality, equity, equality and justice”.
According to Mr. Schertsos, “in critical social issues we must also seek consensus, we can even agree with our political opponents on some things. This does not mean that political differences are removed, as, respectively, we can disagree within the same family, without this leading to a rupture. This is what we achieved yesterday.”
And, to the question of whether the ruling faction has lost the declared one, he answered: “In no case is this the case and anyone who has such thoughts can submit a request for a vote of confidence in the government and let’s see if there is an issue of cohesion. By closing this chapter, New Democracy will proceed even more systematically in the next reform steps. Greece must run because it must converge with the rest of Europe in many fields.”
Meanwhile, when asked to comment on the attitude of former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, the Minister of State stated: “Mr. Samaras is a former Prime Minister. He has the right to his opinions.”
Regarding the attitude of the Church, he referred to what the prime minister said, that is, “Caesar’s things belong to Caesar and God’s things belong to God”. In other words, he added, “there are distinct roles, as we do not participate in the internal theological issues of the Church, respectively, and the Church can express its views, it can defend them, it can fight for them. But beyond that, the state must do its job and regulate the issues related to its constitutionally defined powers. There will be no harm to the Church”, he assured in conclusion.
At a later point in the interview, he noticed a “horizontal section in the political system”, which is explained, as he said, by the fact that the issue in question “has nothing to do with hard political, ideological positions”. Specifically, “in PASOK, 11 MPs abstained, which is 1/3 of its parliamentary strength, perhaps a few more, proportionately, than the MPs of New Democracy, who abstained or voted once morest. In SYRIZA we had two abstentions and one MP who voted “present” and with some differences in the articles. The KKE, which states that it is a party close to people and rights, was categorically once morest the bill, it simply voted in favor of 2 or 3 articles. In any case to keep positive, 176 MPs, a strong majority gave a message yesterday. History will write this, history will write that the New Democracy, a center-right party, a center-right modern liberal faction is the one that brought this great social reform, which comes to build on previous social reforms,” was the “through » of the Minister of State.
On the other hand, he added, “there was a happy timing yesterday: The publication of the Economist’s Democracy Index, which is the most prestigious international publication and which systematically, every year, evaluates the quality of democracies, the rule of law in liberal democracies worldwide. After 16 years, since 2008, Greece has been included among the 20 strongest and best democracies in the world over countries such as France, Spain, Italy, countries of the hard core of Europe”.
And, he concluded, “you cannot submit to the European Parliament disreputable reports like those of “Reporters Without Borders” which rank African dictatorships higher than Greece. These reports were invoked by the opposition and taken to the European Parliament in a politically charged pre-election period. Where it is a given that there are political rivalries between the European People’s Party and the other parliamentary parties. “So there is an instrumentalization, a targeting of New Democracy and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who at the moment is (including the ND) the most powerful European liberal center-right party within the EPP”. However, he expressed his hope that political manipulation and targeting will end following the elections.
The interview ended with the agricultural issue: “We are always open to discuss constructively the reasonable requests of the farmers, we have provided solutions to all requests, now there is nothing left unanswered. The discussion, at the beginning of the week, with the prime minister was very constructive, the farmers themselves recognized it. They have now secured long-term, 10-year electricity predictability.”
While, finally, regarding the possibility of national roads being closed, he interpreted: “We are discussing with open roads, traffic cannot be obstructed, a social, economic, professional claim cannot be directed once morest other social groups. We are here to discuss everything and find solutions.”
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