An attempt is underway to create instability, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday while speaking to Parliament about the issues surrounding the Tempi rail crash.
He referred to the report of the National Organisation for Investigating Air and Rail Accidents and Transport Safety (EODASAAM) and stressed that “the report highlights weaknesses but justifies the assessment that, on that tragic night, human failures unfortunately coinicided with the state’s perennial shortcomings.”
In his opening remarks, the prime minister stressed that the Tempi tragedy affects all society, adding that “we must have the determination and strength to oppose the easy impressions that are inflated by easy accusations and lies.”
“We owe it to the relatives of the 57 victims of Tempi. They do not deserve to be a cog in an instrumentalisation of a moment that shook the entire country,” Mitsotakis said.
He stressed that certain circles are seeking to turn the tragic accident into a point of division when it could be a springboard for unity, and noted that the Tempi collision became a tool for the revival of division and toxicity.
Mitsotakis noted that the government is committed to truth and justice, adding that there is the risk that political life could end up in a quagmire of doubting everything.
“The flip side of that political instability is a loss of trust in society. The greatest danger to our democracy,” according to Mitsotakis.
He added that there is a “sound conclusion about what happened” and called on the opposition parties to agree that during the large rallies for Tempi, society demanded truth and justice, the vindication of the victims, as well as the obvious, namely safe and modern transportation for the country. He stressed that few people at the rallies for Tempi were calling for the government to fall, but as he said, “the vast majority of those who demonstrated had a request for Greece to rise further.”
Referring to the report, he said that the organisation that produced it collaborated with European experts, far from any political interference.
“I have the report in my hands, the first page mentions the 57 dead in Tempi, the report is a guide on how we will not experience such a tragedy again. We can agree on what this report mentioned. First, it identified the causes of the accident as being the wrong handling of a local stationmaster and a train driver, second, it described the shortcomings that contributed to the fatal outcome, third, it described the state mobilisation with coordination gaps, fourth, it failed to provide a documented answer for the fire that followed the collision and called for further investigation, and fifth, it made 17 clear recommendations to the competent bodies for improving train safety. It is not flattering for the government, it highlights weaknesses but justifies the assessment that on that tragic night, human failures unfortunately coincided with the state’s perennial shortcomings. This is exactly what the report described and refuted the very offensive and unfounded theory of a cover-up being circulated by the opposition,” Mitsotakis explained.
The Greek premier pointed out that the report demonstrated that the government was present from the very beginning and did not find any indication of political interference either on the site of the accident or in the committee’s work. Whatever happened, it was due to the lack of preparedness of the mechanisms and the people there did the best they could, according to the report, he noted.
He also attacked the opposition, saying that “there was never a cover-up, you never told us who we wanted to cover up, nor what our motives were.”
During his speech in Parliament, the prime minister also announced New Democracy’s initiative to institutionally and constitutionally enshrine evaluation in the public sector during the next revision of the constitution, including by the citizens.
“Let’s see the position of the parties that react to every change that rewards the capable and reprimands the inconsistent,” the Greek premier noted.
In the face of difficulties, this party and I personally will never give up,” he stressed, adding that no proposal has been heard from the opposition on how Greece will finally get safe railways because “it is the last thing they are interested in.”
SOURCE; ANA-MPA
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