By Penelope Galliou

Their strengths on the “field” will begin to be measured from today until mid-February government and parties, after the start of the discussion of the bill on the marriage of same-sex couples from today in the co-competent committees of the Parliament, (Committee on Public Administration, Public Order and Justice, Committee on Social Affairs and Committee on Equality, Youth and Human Rights).

The marathon of information and the fermentation within the parties on the provisions of the bill continue and will not end before the end of the debate in the Plenary of the Parliament, which will lead to the vote of the bill, where the extent of disagreements and leaks will be reflected faced not only by the ruling faction but also by SYRIZA and PASOK.

In the SW, Megaro Maximus and Piraeus continue the “massage” to the MPs who are unconvinced about the bill, focusing mainly on those who seem more tentative and still vacillating about their stance, rather than the staunch dissenters, who either by voting against or abstaining have declared they are “against”. The biggest target for the government remains the government officials who may oppose the bill, despite the low tones sought by both sides. However, the expressed disagreement of the Minister of State, Makis Voridis, and its acceptance by the Maximos Palace, in combination with the statement that former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to make from the floor of the parliament, create “concerns”, that this “political mix” may work “liberatingly” and for other government officials who have been waiting until now.

Decisive role for the attitude of the “hesitant” parliamentarians, of all parties, will play, the competent bodies that will be invited to place themselves on the bill, hopefully on Wednesday, February 7, at the meeting of the co-competent committees, where the scientific arguments will also be heard both sides. A great “adversary” especially for the parliamentarians of the provinces and the most closed societies, remains the Church, which, like yesterday, will continue to broadcast from the pulpit, and not, its disagreement on the marriage of same-sex couples, pushing until the last moment to vote against the bill.

At the same time as reactionary government MPs, they also argue about their disagreement and about the messages that are being broadcast, putting the upcoming European elections in the frame. Like the MP of Larissa, Maximos Harakopoulos, who during his greeting at the party’s king pie cutting event, estimated that painless messages do not exist.

“You know I was never Pontius Pilate, I never hid behind my finger. I have publicly stated my disagreement with the legalization of marriage and childbearing for same-sex couples. I know a lot of our base has objections to that, too. I mention this to plead with you: We have a crucial election before us. Do not believe that there are painless messages that we can send in the European elections because some of us are bothered by the choice of institutionalizing marriage and childbearing. There are no painless messages,” he emphasized.