Kammenos threatens unity of coalition if Church snubbed

Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos warned Tuesday that a conflict between the state and the Church of Greece would be “catastrophic” for the country and that he would withdraw his support for the government if the Church is disregarded.

Speaking on Antenna TV Kammenos – whose nationalist party is key to the leftist-led coalition government’s slim majority in Parliament – said that he has already informed Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Archbishop Ieronymos of his stance on the issue.

“If the government were to say that it will ignore the Church and changed everything with regard to religion at schools and did away with Orthodoxy, then I wouldn’t support it,” he said.

Kammenos made his remarks amid an ongoing clash between the leftist-led coalition and the Church over the role of religion in school and society. He said, however, that a “solution was found” at a recent meeting between Tsipras and Ieronymos.