Education Minister Filis: No plans to separate Church and State

Filis says curriculum reforms will be decided by Ministry

Speaking to Skai TV, Education and Religious Affairs Minister Nikos Filis said the government had no plans to hold a referendum on the separation of Church and State. He continued by stressing that even though he shared the opinion of 70% of citizens who, according to surveys, were in favour of the separation of State and Church, he noted that it was not included on the party’s agenda, citing what Greek PM Alexis Tsipras had stated in his speech on the institutional reform during summer. Filis avoided commenting on the recent statements made by the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Ieronymos, who had said that the Church would not surrender orthodoxy and the country, simply expressing his respect to the Church institution. On the issue of educational reforms in the curriculum of secondary schools and the rejection on the part of the Greek Federation of Teachers of Secondary Education State Schools (OLME) of the proposals tabled by Antonis Liakos, Filis said the final decisions would be made by the Ministry.