The government survives a vote of no confidence. The background to the vote is a train wreck about which there are many unanswered questions.
Luck again: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after surviving the no-confidence motion Photo: Petros Giannakouris/ap/dpa
ATHENS taz | Greece's conservative one-party government under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has once again survived a vote of no confidence in the Athens parliament. 141 deputies expressed their distrust in the government late Thursday afternoon, 159 deputies voted “no.”
In addition to the 158 deputies of the ruling New Democracy (ND) party, the far-right and unregistered Charis Katsivardas also voted in favor of “business as usual” under Mitsotakis, as Greece needs “a stable government.”
Nikos Androulakis, leader of the social democratic Pasok, took the initiative of the no-confidence motion. With 32 members, it is the third strongest force in the 300-seat Athens parliament. The no-confidence motion was also supported by deputies from the main opposition party Syriza (36 seats), its affiliate “New Left” (11 seats) and the left-wing conservative “Freedom Course” (6 seats). Furthermore, the four remaining opposition parties – in addition to the Communist Party, the three right-wing parties “Greek Solution”, “Victoria” and “The Spartans” – as well as three non-registered deputies expressed their distrust in Mitsotakis. government.
However, the government had to give up. Ministers Stavros Papastavrou and Jannis Bratakos, who were among Prime Minister Mitsotakis's closest collaborators, had to resign on Thursday – just hours before the vote – after it was revealed that they had met with the shipowner and shipping magnate Vangelis Marinakis media.
New episode
The reason for the motion of censure was a new episode in the processing of the devastating train accident that occurred in the Tempi valley, in central Greece, on February 28, 2023. 57 people, mostly young people, died and many more were injured.
The Athens Sunday newspaper “To Vima”, which is part of Marinakis' media empire, reported that recordings of conversations between railway employees on the day of the accident had been manipulated. This was intended to give the impression that the accident was caused solely by human error.
The relatives' accusation is that valuable evidence was allegedly destroyed by order of the Mitsotaki government to “cover up tracks.” Prime Minister Mitsotakis denies this. In his speech in Parliament on Thursday night, he told the relatives of Tempi's victims: “I look into your eyes. As for the tempos, there was no type of dissimulation.” Almost no one believes him.