Greek opposition tabled motion of no confidence in government over response to last year's deadly train accident
ATHENS, GREECE – Greece's opposition on Tuesday filed a motion of no confidence against the government, accusing it of trying to cover up its responsibility for last year's deadly train disaster that shocked Greece.
The Pasok Socialist Party filed a complaint with the government after a newspaper report suggested that audio from railway officials leaked to the news media was selectively selected to mislead about human error in the accident.
Three days of debate in parliament are expected to conclude with a vote late Thursday.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right New Democracy party holds a comfortable majority of 158 seats in the 300-member parliament, making the motion unlikely to pass. But pressure on the government is likely to increase, with its critics accusing it of trying to avoid responsibility for the circumstances of the crash.
The accident in the Tempe district of central Greece occurred on the night of February 28, 2023, when a passenger train collided with an oncoming freight train traveling in the wrong direction on the same track. It became Greece's worst railway accident. Many of the 57 people who died were university students who were planning to return to class after the holidays.
More than 10 weeks before June's European Parliament elections, Mitsotakis's majority has declined in recent opinion polls due to renewed public concern about disasters. The accident highlighted long-standing problems with Greece's railway safety monitoring system, with families of victims claiming the government covered up failures in safety measures that could have prevented the tragedy. I'm raising it.
Nikos Androurakis, leader of the centre-left Pasok party, filed a no-confidence motion on Tuesday after a Sunday newspaper report alleged that records of conversations between the station master and the train driver were leaked to the media shortly after the accident. It was heavily edited.
“In every scandal and failure of government, the political choice is made to hide the truth instead of walking the difficult path of accountability,” Androlakis told parliament when introducing the motion.
The Tobima newspaper reported that the leaked audio of the conversation between the station master and the train driver included unrelated conversations, leading to misunderstandings.
The main left-wing opposition party, SYRIZA, said it would support the no-confidence motion. Government officials on Tuesday denied claims that they were behind the breach and said the parliamentary motion was a political stunt. ___
Derek Gatopoulos contributed to this report.
