Filling element and filling machine for filling bottles or similar containers

An apparatus comprising a filling element for pressure filling a container with a liquid product, said filling element comprising a liquid channel formed in a filling element housing and a liquid valve arranged in said liquid channel, said liquid channel comprising one of a connection and an inlet for feeding said liquid product into said liquid channel and a discharge opening for discharging said liquid product into said container, and said liquid valve being arranged in said liquid channel for controlling discharge of said liquid product into said container, said liquid valve comprising a valve body provided on a gas tube configured to act as a valve plunger and that can be moved in a controlled manner along a filling element axis to open and close said liquid valve, said gas tube having a lower open gas tube end connected to an interior of said container during a filling process having a partial length extending through said liquid channel, wherein said gas tube comprises, adjacent to said valve body and over at least half of said partial length, a first gas tube portion having an enlarged external cross-section, said enlarged external cross-section being substantially equal to an external cross-section of one of said valve body and a wall portion that delimits, in a radially inward direction relative to said filling element axis, a flow path surrounding said valve body, wherein said liquid channel forms, at least over said partial length extending in said direction of said filling element axis, a first liquid channel portion that surrounds said first gas tube portion in said manner of one of an annular channel and a ring and that has a substantially constant flow cross-section, wherein said first liquid channel portion extends over at least 50% of one of said partial length and total length of said liquid channel.