A five-day debate began today in Greece’s Parliament on possible revision of eligible constitutional articles, roughly a week after the current center-right Greek government opted not to re-institute a provision in the country’s penal code prohibiting insult to religion.
One of the constitutional articles eligible for revision is Article III, the definitive text in the constitution regarding Church-state relations and religious freedom.
In inaugurating the ruling party’s policy statement over constitutional revision, New Democracy (ND) party rapporteur Costas Tzavaras argued that the country’s top constitutional law experts agree that the constitution is fully insulated from any “religious color”, as he said.
As Tzavaras noted in an opening statement, “…protection of civil, social and religious freedoms, and the consolidation of freedom of one’s religious conscience, as well as neutrality of the state towards religion, are fully and repeatedly guaranteed by our constitution.”