Greece-This is the new draft law on racism, its going to be filed in parliament in the coming days

The Greek government promotes a plan to confront the Golden Dawn, which can reach up to an operating ban, and it appears determined to crack down on racism and xenophobia, but without having to idolize the Golden Dawn members or prejudicing the rights of free expression of citizens.

To this end it would it will submitted to the parliament a comprehensive legislative framework in the coming days that sets clear legitimacy barriers against all manner of racist and xenophobic events by adopting regulations that have been implemented in other countries for similar organizations that cause violence or are praising Nazi crimes and have been outlawed.

Just two days after announcing the new law against racism, Greek government decided to put it on hold. Officially some technical modifications are needed. Unofficially, it looks as if there was some disagreement within the coalition government partners. Odd enough, the prime minister apparently consulted with the deputy Justice minister on the upcoming changes and not the minister himself.

The bill foresaw tougher sentences for racially motivated crimes especially committed by lawmakers of neo-Nazi Golden Dawn.

We will know the truth, once the new-new law will appear again.

“Government sources suggested that some of the bill’s provisions needed to be “reassessed.” State Minister Dimitris Stamatis, who asked the Justice Ministry to put off publishing the bill, spoke to Roupakiotis about some areas that need to be examined.

The main disagreement, though, appears to be over whether the draft law will act as a deterrent for far-right Golden Dawn or if it will allow the party to claim it is being persecuted and, therefore, turn it into a recruitment exercise. Samaras favors the latter interpretation, while Roupakiotis, a Democratic Left candidate who has had previous run-ins with New Democracy officials in the coalition, believes the former is more likely.

Anti-racism bill put on hold amid coalition disagreement Plans for the government’s anti-racism bill to be put to public consultation on Friday were placed on hold, ostensibly due to the need for some technical tweaks, but it appeared there was disagreement within the coalition about whether the draft law was the best way to tackle the rise of Golden Dawn. The unpublished bill aims to introduce tougher sentences for racially motivated crime and to lead to MPs who preach hate and neo-Nazism being prevented from standing for office. Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis had hoped to complete the consultation process in time for the would-be law to be submitted to Parliament this month. However, government sources suggested that some of the bill’s provisions needed to be “reassessed.” State Minister Dimitris Stamatis, who asked the Justice Ministry to put off publishing the bill, spoke to Roupakiotis about some areas that need to be examined. The main disagreement, though, appears to be over whether the draft law will act as a deterrent for far-right Golden Dawn or if it will allow the party to claim it is being persecuted and, therefore, turn it into a recruitment exercise. Samaras favors the latter interpretation, while Roupakiotis, a Democratic Left candidate who has had previous run-ins with New Democracy officials in the coalition, believes the former is more likely.