Greece's centre-right government has survived a no-confidence motion brought by opposition parties over its handling of the country's deadliest train accident a year ago.
ATHENS, Greece — Greece's centre-right government survived a no-confidence motion filed late Thursday by opposition parties over its handling of the country's deadliest train disaster a year ago.
Four left-wing opposition parties accused the government of obstructing the investigation into the train accident that killed 57 people, many of them university students returning home from spring break.
Parliament voted 159 to 141 against the motion after three days of heated debate. The government also rejected opposition parties' demands to hold snap elections.
The February 28, 2023 accident occurred when a passenger train accidentally collided with an oncoming freight train that was on the same track.
Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has vowed to respect the outcome of the ongoing judicial inquiry into the crash and denied any wrongdoing.
“There was no cover-up,” he told lawmakers before the vote. “What exactly did this discussion (in Congress) contribute to the investigation?”
According to public opinion polls, a majority of the public believes that the government has not been sincere in its responsibility for the accident.
Despite the defeat, the no-confidence motion was the result of a rare collaboration between Greece's centre-left and left-wing parties ahead of June's European Parliament elections.
