Cremation Update

Via the Athens News

THEY may need to hold their breath for another couple of years before the first facilities are built, but many wanting to be cremated upon death will at last be able to have their final wish carried out in this country after the Council of State approved a bill allowing cremation for those whose religion permits it.

After a long campaign by community groups (mostly Muslim, Buddhist and Protestant) and humanitarian activists, the legislation allowing cremation in Greece was passed in March 2006. As a presidential decree, though, it required the approval of the country’s highest administrative court to become law.

That approval came on September 25 of this year. However, as explained by Antonis Alakiotis, the president of the Committee for the Right for Cremation in Greece (CRCG), a common ministerial decision now needs to be drafted by the interior, health and environment ministries before the first incineration facilities can be built – something that he expects will take up to a year-and-a-half.

Read the full article here

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