Greek parliament to vote on same-sex marriage in February: PM

Greece's parliament will vote next month on legalizing same-sex marriage and adoption, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, evoking a highly divisive issue in the country.

A draft law "will be submitted to the next cabinet meeting next week," Mitsotakis told Bloomberg TV in Davos, Switzerland.

"I'm very optimistic that it will become Greek law within the first two weeks of the month of February," he said.

The conservative prime minister, who is promoting the bill, has said existing assisted reproduction rules will not be modified to allow same-sex couples the right to surrogacy.

The issue is a priority for the main opposition leftist Syriza party, whose leader Stefanos Kasselakis has said that he and his American husband want to become parents through surrogacy.

Both Syriza and the socialist party PASOK are expected to support the bill.

A key obstacle on same-sex issues has been the longstanding opposition of the influential Greek Orthodox Church.

But Archbishop Ieronymos, head of the Church of Greece, said Friday that it "would not take up arms" against same-sex marriage and adoption.

Opinion polls indicate that a majority of Greeks support same-sex marriage but oppose surrogacy. (AFP)