A parliamentary committee on Cultural and Educational Affairs approved in principle, on its articles and in its entirety a draft bill of the ministry of education, research and religious affairs which will introduce changes to the election of the muftis in Western Thrace. 
The bill was supported by government coalition partners SYRIZA and ANEL, New Democracy, the Democratic Coalition, the Communist Party and Potami, while Golden Dawn and the Centrists Union said they will present their position at the plenum. 
"The specific legislation is a step towards equality and democracy, within a complex European context and a framework for respecting the Muslim minority in our country," Education Minister Costas Gavroglou told the committee.
He said the bill comes at a time when "an extremely complicated situation being created in Europe, with elements of Islamophobia, which has placed issues of identity on the table, and which Europe, forgetting its history, considers them solved."
The bill will be submitted to the parliament plenum after the holidays.