Stefanos Kasselakis

The center-right Greek government's plans to legalize same-sex civil marriage received a major boost Thursday after the left-wing opposition leader pledged his party's backing in parliament.

SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis said he would instruct his lawmakers to vote for the proposal, although he argued that it didn't go far enough on parenthood rights.

Everyone agrees that the country needs a strong opposition, even the government and even the government spokesman, Pavlos Marinakis, who said as much after the election of Stefanos Kasselakis to the leadership of SYRIZA.

Main opposition SYRIZA has found itself with 35 seats in Greece's 300-seat Parliament after Magnisia MP Katerina Papanatsiou stepped down over disagreements with the party's new leadership.

SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis is considering two initiatives aimed at strengthening his control over the main opposition party and bringing it more in line with the political center.

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage neither "freezes" nor is expedited, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said on Friday.

"A conversation will have to take place first, which will begin very soon," Marinakis said in an interview with Skai radio. "There will first have to be an exhaustive analysis and description of what we want to accomplish."

The government refuted claims that main opposition SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis was offered a ministerial seat in the ruling New Democracy party as "science fiction."

SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis has said that his party will table its own bill on marriage equality, following remarks by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that were widely interpreted as putting a brake on his government's plans to introduce same-sex marriage.

Main opposition SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis invited the party's parliamentary group for a three-day working meeting in his holiday home on the island of Spetses.

According to the email invitation the MPs received on Wednesday, the meeting aims to plan parliamentary action for the first semester of 2024, with invitees asked to prepare and propose new pieces of legislation.

Leftist opposition SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis put the diaspora at the center of his new year's message on Sunday, while on a holiday visit to the United States.

In a video posted on social media on Thursday, SYRIZA President Stefanos Kasselakis extends New Year wishes from Houston, Texas, US. 

Joined by his spouse Tyler Macbeth and nieces, Theodoris and Isabella, Kasselakis, in an intimate family moment, expresses gratitude for Saint Stephen's name day wishes and pledges to be worthy of trust to his supporters.