The draft anti-racism legislation due to be discussed in Parliament on August 26 has been postponed for another week, following months of delays. The new postponement is due to the New Democracy party’s reaction to the part of the legislation concerning the genocide of Christians in the East. Government sources told Proto Thema that the first signs of disruption to the legislation came when 38 New Democracy MPs submitted a letter to the Justice Ministry calling for specific reference to the genocide of the Black Sea and Asia Minor Greeks as well as Armenians and Assyrians that have been recognized as genocide by Greek Parliament since 1994.

An announcement by the PASOK party on Thursday said that the bill is “a great step forward for Greece, since it is the first time that the Greek society and Greek democracy are safeguarded cohesively against words of hate and racist and xenophobic rhetoric.”

The new legislation provides stiffer penalties for individuals and political parties that engage in racism or inciting racist behavior. It will include legislation that makes denial of genocides an offence, including those that are officially recognized by the Greek State. Specifically, parties or associations that promote racism will be penalized by being cut off from state funding anywhere from one to six months and the justice minister will have the authority to fine people involved in racist acts from between 10,000 to 100,000 euros. Furthermore, individuals involved in racist acts could face prison sentences from three months to three years and face charges of 5,000 to 20,000 euros.

The announcement made by the PASOK party states that “all democratic parties should show zero tolerance to hate, xenophobia and racism.”

The bill is to be tabled in the third summer session of Parliament that opens on Monday and was officially announced by Justice Minister Haralambos Athanassiou on Wednesday.

The legislation was first submitted to Parliament in November but was delayed due to objections by former cabinet secretary Panayiotis Baltakos. A new version of the bill is to be tabled in efforts to update the country’s anti-racism legislation that hasn’t been changed since 1979.

The wall says “Racists aren’t a race, they are daily Greeks”