Parties give own findings in Tempe probe
The cross-party parliamentary committee investigating the causes of the deadly train collision in Tempe, central Greece in February 2023 ended its sessions on Monday with each party submitting its own conclusions. Monday’s tumultuous session was followed by acrimonious exchanges between the parties whose representatives participated in the committee.
PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis said the aim of the government majority represented by ruling New Democracy MPs was not to reveal the truth about the “crime of Tempe” but to cover up the responsibilities of its ministers and its “blue children” at the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) and its subsidiary ERGOSE. “The conclusion, submitted by New Democracy, is a monument of shame and insult to the people,” he stated.
In response, ND derided Androulakis over his “irresponsible and unsubstantiated criticism.” “He attempts to criticize the government majority with insults and name-calling. We will not follow him,” it said.
For his part, SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis wrote on social media that the main concern of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was “how to close the work of the parliamentary committee of inquiry, how to cover up the crime of Tempe.”
“The prime minister bears heavy political responsibility for the loss of 57 people who perished because there was no signaling system after 2019. But he bears sole responsibility for covering up the crime. Cement the crime scene, cement the responsibilities,” Kasselakis wrote.
Despite being excluded from addressing the committee due to a conflict of interest, Zoe Konstantopoulou, Course for Freedom leader, repeatedly intervened, asserting the committee president, Dimitris Markopoulos, an ND member, “must be excluded.”
The next step in the special procedure will be at the level of political leaders in the coming period.
