Evangelos Venizelos spoke about the upcoming bill on the marriage of same-sex couples, non-state universities and postal voting on the SKAI show “Mismatches”.

For the marriage of same-sex couples

Regarding the marriage of same-sex couples, Mr. Venizelos stated that “there is an unregulated reality and the lack of regulation creates injustices and inequalities as well as legal dead ends. This needs to be addressed legislatively. This is not about mainstream society but society must be liberal and pluralistic and we must give the right to all citizens regardless of gender to be able to enter into this legal act. The issue is absolutely legal and has no moral or religious dimension.”

He then added that “the state is the state of citizens, of equality, of the prohibition of discrimination and of course when you have a reality which is the same-sex relationship and you also have children that arise, you cannot leave this unregulated and leave people in the dark and on the sidelines”.

Asked if the issue could be settled with the cohabitation agreement, he replied that “that would be another cohabitation agreement, enhanced for same-sex couples. This would mean that you construct an institution just for them and do not subject them to the general contract of cohabitation nor to marriage. So you are doing something else that is above the covenant and below marriage. This constitutes inequality and goes against the European Convention on Human Rights.”

“The State and the legal order must act with a principle that respects equality and prohibits discrimination.”

For non-state universities

Asked about non-state universities and his reaction in 2007 to the change in Article 16, Mr Venizelos stated that “I always believed that EU law could resolve the issue. Now the government is proceeding with non-state universities without revising the article. Our Constitution does not stand alone but coexists with European law and international law.”

For postal voting

Regarding the opposition’s stance on the issue of postal voting, Mr. Venizelos said that “the opposition disagrees because it had voted on principle without the amendment for the national elections. All this debate has a deficit, what is its starting point in relation to our Constitution. In 2001 I had arranged for a small paragraph to be added on the expatriate vote. I had said, therefore, that for these voters the postal vote does not affect the principle of the simultaneous holding of the elections since the counting and announcement of the result takes place at the same time as the polling stations”.