Parliament rejects no-confidence motion
Seven out of 300 MPs did not vote, including former prime minister Antonis Samaras, expelled from the ruling New Democracy party last November.
Facing constant interruptions, mostly by the leaders of the main opposition PASOK and lesser opposition SYRIZA parties, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis concluded the debate by attacking his opponents as the “coalition of willing nihilists” who wanted to weaponize the Tempe railway tragedy to bring down the government.
In the most direct reference to the Tempe disaster itself, Mitsotakis sought to debunk the accusation that the government conspired to remove evidence from the site of the disaster, in which 57 people died when a passenger and a cargo train, routed by mistake on to the same track, collided on the night of February 28, 2023.
Addressing opposition leader Nikos Androulakis, Mitsotakis reminded him that both were present on the site the day after there. He reminded him that he was PM says he was at Tempe site the day after the disaster and that he was briefed by the Fire Service that some railcars had to be lifted because a rescue operation was still underway and that rescuers were still searching for any trapped survivors (they didn’t find any) as well as non-salvaged victims. Mitsotakis said a video of that briefing existed. He also said that Androulakis was briefed that the main north-south gas pipeline was running through the site and that he had raised no objections about the salvaging operation. Replying angrily to loud cries that he misrepresented the events, Mitsotakis cried: “you are liars, always been.” He added that justice, and not trials by mob, will decide on any blame for the handling of the post-crash operation.
Mitsotakis spent more time defending other policies, such as Greece’s role in European Union deliberations over Ukraine and defense policies and his government’s handling of the economy: he notably said that, under his government, the unemployment rate declined from 17% in 2019 to 9% at present.
The PM challenged Androulakis to agree with him to push for four amendments to the constitution on the choice of top justices, the handling of ministers’ criminal responsibility (both PASOK proposals), the assessment of civil servants and the end of the state monopoly on higher education, an issue PASOK once championed before backtracking.
When he talked about foreign policy issues, Mitsotakis said that Greece must maintain its strategic relation with the US regardless of who is President and accused Androulakis and PASOK backsliding towards anti-Americanism the party had adopted before coming to power for the first time in 1981.
Mitsotakis began his speech by apologizing to Course of Freedom leader Zoe Konstantopoulou for an insulting interruption by New Democracy MP Dimitris Kyriazidis, who shouted at her “Go have a baby,” during her speech. Mitsotakis expelled the MP from the parliamentary group shortly after and explulsion from the party will likely follow.
The prime minister ended his speech by saying that the government will continue its present reform policies for the remainder of its term and expressed his certainty that voters will approve in the next national election set to take place in mid-2027.
During the three-day debate on the motion, a total of 172 MPs spoke ober 42 hours; both are records.
In his speech, Androulakis said that the tragic Tempe event was “the revelation of an incompetent state” and that, to improve the country, a change of government was needed. He also accused the government of “bombarding the Parliament with fake news.” He also accused Mitsotakis of deliberately spreading lies about the conditions that led to the accident in the days that followed it.
Kathimerini
