Greece's new left-wing government is promising to grant same-sex couples legal status reports ABC News. Greece's Justice Minister Nikolaos Paraskevopoulos, who just took office on Jan. 27, addressed parliament on Monday saying that civil partnerships, which were first legislated in 2008, would extend to gay couples but did not provide a timeframe for when the changes would occur.
The pledge comes two weeks after Greece's left-wing Syriza party ousted conservatives in a general election and formed a coalition government with a right-wing, anti-bailout party, one which in the past has opposed awarding gay partners legal status. In 2013, the Council of Europe's Court of Human Rights awarded plaintiffs damages after they successfully challenged the Greek state over civil partnerships law.
