Greek Government Survives No-Confidence Motion over Handling of Crises

The Greek government survived a no-confidence motion tabled by the opposition on Thursday, regarding the handling of a series of crises and challenges, including a deadly train accident last year that resulted in 57 fatalities. A total of 159 Members of Parliament voted against the motion, while 141 deputies voted in favor in the 300-member strong plenary.

On Tuesday, the opposition socialist Panhellenic Socialist Movement-Movement for Change (PASOK-KINAL) Party tabled the motion, which was supported by other opposition parties. They accused the conservative government of a “cover-up,” particularly in the case of the train tragedy.

The party referred to a media report published over the weekend, claiming that recordings of railway employees on the evening of a head-on collision between a freight train and a passenger train in central Greece had been edited.

According to the motion, the distorted material was used to attribute the accident to “human error” by railway officials, rather than the responsibility of politicians who were in charge of the railway’s chronic mismanagement, as claimed by the families of the victims and opposition parties.

Addressing the plenary shortly before the roll-call vote, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose ruling conservative New Democracy Party enjoys a wide majority, strongly rejected the allegations.

“The independent justice system will rule on the case, not political parties,” he said.

The motion also accuses the government of failing to guarantee good living standards for Greek citizens and decent wages to combat inflationary pressures.

The Greek prime minister responded that the Greek economy is growing strongly, unemployment and inflation rates are decreasing, and a new increase in the minimum wage will be introduced soon.