The Greek parliament on Thursday rejected a motion of censure against the conservative government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, accused by the opposition of concealing political responsibilities in the train disaster of 2023. One hundred and fifty-nine deputies spoke out against this motion, tabled by the party socialist Pasok supported in particular by the main left-wing opposition party Syriza, and 141 in favor. Its failure was not in doubt because the prime minister's right-wing New Democracy party holds an absolute majority in the unicameral parliament.
Attacked for his management considered disastrous of the collision which left 57 dead on February 28, 2023 and shocked the entire country, Mr. Mitsotakis assured that there had “
never been an order to conceal”
political responsibilities.
“I look you in the eye and I tell you
,” he insisted, pugnacious while several vehement left-wing deputies heckled him.
In this accident which he recently described as a
“national trauma”
,
“the chronic failures of the State encountered human error”
, he underlined, assuring that he wanted to tell the
“truth”
in the face of a
“society suspicious and angry
. Shortly before the vote, dozens of demonstrators gathered in front of the parliament, notably displaying a large black banner on which was written:
“We forget nothing - We demand justice”
.
Acrimonious debates
During two days, and almost two entire nights, of acrimonious debates, accusations of negligence and criminal actions were leveled against the government.
“We refuse to accept the persistence of corruption, cover-up and impunity
,” stressed Pasok leader Nikos Androulakis.
“Ninety percent of society no longer believes you and no longer trusts you, it is society that brought us here today
,” assured the leader of the Syriza parliamentary group, Socratis Famellos, calling this train accident a
“crime”
.
The filing of this motion of censure on Tuesday came after revelations from the Sunday newspaper To Vima claiming that the recordings of conversations between the station manager and the train drivers on the evening of the accident were manipulated to support the thesis of the human error. Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the article
“misleading”
.
“Aren’t you ashamed to insinuate (that these conversations were edited)?”
. For a year, families of victims and political leaders supported by part of civil society have continued to denounce the serious negligence at the origin of this accident.
Unacceptable flaws
This head-on collision between a passenger train and a goods convoy highlighted
“the unacceptable flaws in the safety of Greek railways”
, according to the text of the motion of censure, and in particular the considerable delays taken by the Greece in the modernization of its signaling systems.
“To the criminal oligarchy (...) was added an equally criminal and methodical attempt to cover up the affair
,” continues the text which also criticizes the former Minister of Transport, Kostas Karamanlis, who resigned the following day of the disaster. Speaking in parliament, the latter, also a deputy, assured:
“if anyone has real accusations against me with proof, (...) let him bring them forward”
.
For months, the collective of victims' families has been demanding the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of Mr. Karamanlis and his left-wing predecessor Christos Spirtzis. In the European Parliament, the representative of this collective, Maria Karystianou, also accused the government of
“cover-up”
. More than 30 railway employees have so far been prosecuted in this case, but no high-ranking figures. The station manager of Larissa, the town closest to the accident some 300 km northwest of Athens, is in pre-trial detention for
“negligent homicide”
.
The collision sparked a wave of indignation among Greeks who took to the streets massively. The day after the tragedy, Kyriakos Mitsotakis attributed the tragedy to
“a tragic human error”
and has since insisted that it was up to justice to shed light on this affair. On February 28, between anger and tears, some 30,000 demonstrators demonstrated again to commemorate the accident.