The Japan Times - Greek govt to face no-confidence vote over 2023 train tragedy

Pasok party leader Nikos Androulakis said the motion was filed over the conservative government's "criminal incompetence".

Three leftist and left-wing parties -- Syriza, New Left and Course of Freedom -- supported the move.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is certain to defeat the motion, has accused the opposition of peddling "nightmarish" lies about the accident that claimed 57 lives.

"I have an obligation to keep the country steady and safe in this uncertain climate," the conservative leader, in power since 2019, told parliament earlier Wednesday as his lawmakers delivered a standing ovation.

He accused his opponents of spreading a "storm" of misinformation and seeking to use the tragedy as a "battering ram" to sow discord and destabilise the country.

"There never was a (cover-up)," Mitsotakis said, dismissing the claims as a "colourful collection of myths, fantasies and lies."

Rival party leaders said the government had ignored repeated signs and warnings that Greece's railways were chronically underfunded and accident-prone.

"You are both guilty and useless," Androulakis said.

Sokratis Famellos, head of the leftist Syriza party, said Mitsotakis had a motive in covering up the tragedy as he was seeking re-election a few months later.

"Society does not trust you. Society does not believe you. You have no legitimacy," Famellos said.

"It is our obligation to overthrow this government," he said.

Mitsotakis' ruling New Democracy party has 156 lawmakers in the 300-seat chamber, enough to survive the censure motion, expected to be held late Friday after a three-day debate.

The rail disaster occurred on February 28, 2023, when a train from Athens to Thessaloniki carrying more than 350 passengers collided with a freight train near the central city of Larissa.

The two trains had travelled towards each other on the same track for miles without triggering any alarms. The accident was blamed on faulty equipment and human error.

Over 40 people have been prosecuted, including the local station master responsible for routing the trains, but a trial into the accident is not expected before the end of the year.

Opinion polls show a large majority of Greeks believe the government tried to cover up evidence into the tragedy.

On Tuesday, parliament voted to launch an investigation into whether a senior official dispatched by Mitsotakis to the scene after the accident authorised the bulldozing of the crash site, leading to the loss of vital evidence.

The official, Christos Triantopoulos, resigned on Tuesday. He denies any wrongdoing and says he was overseeing relief efforts.

Hundreds of thousands turned out at protest rallies nationwide during a general strike on Friday, the second anniversary of the tragedy, to demand justice for the victims, in one of the largest mobilisations recorded in Greece.

Another protest will be held Wednesday.

A previous parliamentary committee investigating the tragedy concluded last March without assigning blame to senior politicians.

Critics noted that the committee, which was headed by a ruling party MP, had not interviewed key witnesses including Triantopoulos.

K.Inoue--JT