After a nine-month interruption, amid objections to its provisions mainly by conservative lawmakers, a parliamentary review of a draft anti-racism law is expected to be debated in parliament’s recess section. Under a stiffer and respectively inflexible framework, the draft would toughen criminal sanctions for individuals and political parties that engage in racism or incite racist violence, calling for prison sentences of up to three years and heavy financial penalties. The bill also criminalizes denial of any cases of genocide recognized by international courts or decisions in the Greek Parliament, including the Holocaust, the mass killing of Christians in Asia Minor between 1908 and 1922, and the killing of Black Sea Greeks. However, the provisions of the bill set certain limits, noting that punishment is reserved for those deemed to act maliciously, not those setting out scientific or historical arguments for instance.

Justice Minister Haralambos Athanasiou told Kathimerini newspaper that the bill “offers Greek society and democracy a modern and comprehensive shield against racist phenomena, xenophobia and bigotry”.