AthensLive Wire 294:
„Griechische Regierung hat nichts dazugelernt
In der zurückliegenden Woche gab es Rücktritte von zwei Regierungsmitgliedern, einen Misstrauensantrag gegenüber dem Ministerpräsidenten, ein parlamentarischer Voruntersuchungsausschuss wurde beschlossen und im Parlament wurde drei Tage lang hitzig debattiert.
Alles dank des Drucks der Massendemonstrationen vom 28. Februar und der vier darauf folgenden Proteste.
Eine an die Presse durchgesickerte E-Mail beweist, dass mehrere Regierungsbeamte in die überstürzte Deponierung der Unfallstelle von Tempi verwickelt waren, bei der Schutt, der sogar menschliche Überreste enthält, entfernt wurde.
Die Regierung hat ihre Legitimität völlig verloren. Fünfundsiebzig Prozent der Bevölkerung glauben, dass bezüglich des Tempi-Unglücks vertuscht wurde. Siebenundachtzig Prozent glauben, dass die Regierung die Verantwortung für die Geschehnisse trägt. Jeder Zweite wünscht sich vorgezogene Neuwahlen. Doch die Regierung bleibt unnachgiebig und arrogant.

[Ab hier die Originalversion]

This is why it matters to take the streets

Historically, this has always been the case; political developments accelerated when people took the streets en masse.

This is what’s happening now in Greece.

Stormy developments – and three more protests followed the huge 28 February 2025 demonstration, which took place in more than 300 cities in Greece and abroad, and only in Athens, some 700,000 people participated.

Following the enormous 28th February demonstration, Prime Minister Mitsotakis spoke in Parliament, on 5th March. The speech is a case-study for newspeak.

„There were protesters who demanded the government to resign. However, I believe that the vast majority had the opposite request: for Greece to rise higher,“ he stated (In other words, he claimed we marched to encourage his government). „At least, that’s what I heard from the hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens who took to the streets and squares,“ he continued, in an apparent effort to co-opt the protests since he did not manage to contain them.

He once again accused the opposition of „exploiting“ the Tempi tragedy for political gains.

He promised that two years from now and four years after the Tempi disaster, the railway system would be modern and safe – by 2027.

As we had assumed in our previous newsletter, he singled out from the EODASAAM report the conclusion that the landfilling of the accident site was due to an institutional coordination problem. He thus argued that the report „confirms the assessment that, on that tragic night of February 28, 2023, human errors unfortunately collided with the state’s longstanding structural deficiencies.“ In short, he claimed that there has been no cover-up.

A day earlier, on Tuesday, the Parliament had approved (with 277 votes in favour) the establishment of a preliminary investigation committee for possible crimes committed by the then (at the time of the accident) deputy minister to the Prime Minister Christos Triantopoulos. He is suspected to have been at the epicenter of the landfilling of the accident site.

On the same day, Justice Minister Floridis prejudged the committee’s conclusion. After accusing the opposition of “partisan exploitation of a national tragedy” “in complete discord with the demands of the people,” he concluded
that the accusations of a cover-up “are baseless”, “without any evidence, without even the slightest indication of what was allegedly concealed and who was supposedly being protected.“ Addressing main opposition PASOK leader Androulakis, who proposed the establishment of the preliminary investigative committee, characterised the proposal as “hypocritical.”

“Indeed, Mr. Floridis, the proposal to establish a Preliminary Investigation Committee is hypocritical, because it does not concern ALL politicians, whose files for their crimes have been sent to Parliament by the Prosecutor months ago, nor ALL the crimes that need to be investigated,” Victims’ Relatives’ Association head Karystianou posted. “And that is exactly why you voted for it, because it is hypocritical!”

Floridis is not the only one judging the committee’s results. The PM himself did the same, as he stated: “We may consider the accusations against Triantopoulos baseless, but we have no reason not to give the development the needed gravity.”

Earlier, Triantopoulos, Deputy Minister for Civil Protection and Climate Crisis, announced his resignation „to facilitate the process and the work of the government.“

Before Triantopoulos, General Secretary for Civil Protection Vasilis Papageorgiou had also resigned to the Prime Minister, “mainly to facilitate the work of the Greek Justice as to the Tempi case.” Papageorgiou is one of the seven defendants facing misdemeanor charges for handling the accident site, including excavating and removing debris with heavy machinery. The actions taken in the first 24 hours following the disaster led the victims’ families to file lawsuits against the officials involved at the scene.

Following the resignations as mentioned earlier, the only person remaining in place in the Civil Protection Ministry is Minister Kikilias.

They all knew. All.

On Thursday, newspaper Estia revealed an email from Christos Triantopoulos sent to Giorgos Gerapetritis (then Minister of State), Akis Skertsos (then Deputy Minister of State), Giannis Xifaras (then Secretary General of the Ministry of Transport), and Kostas Agorastos (then Regional Governor of Thessaly).

According to the report, in this email, dated 9 March 2023 (nine days after the Tempi accident), Triantopoulos confirms that he participated in a meeting with Gerapetritis and Agorastos regarding the „collection and restoration/arrangement of the site“ of the Tempi railway disaster. As the newspaper noted, the former deputy minister concealed this meeting during his speech in Parliament two days ago.

In the email, Christos Triantopoulos reportedly asked the regional authorities to estimate the cost „and send it to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport so that it could be covered through fast-track procedures, as emphasised by the minister.“

As Estia commented, the content of this email overturns the government’s narrative defending Triantopoulos, confirms his coordinating role in the site’s clearance, and implicates the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Giorgos Gerapetritis, in the decision-making process.

It should be recalled that the landfilling of the accident site cost some 650,000 euros, a sum reportedly approved by the Ministry of Development. A prosecutor had not authorised the action. The latter was revealed on 25 February, following a parliamentary question tabled by SYRIZA.

Citizens took the streets almost every day this week

The PM might have suggested that the people protested to… encourage his government, but the polls suggest otherwise. According to an MRB poll published on Friday:

72.2% of citizens believe that the most appropriate term for what happened in Tempi is „crime,“ only 24.8% think the appropriate term is „accident.“

75.2% believe there has been a cover-up regarding the efforts to administer justice in the case, while 17.8% think there was transparency.

78.5% think the government is not doing everything in its power, compared to 19.3% who believe they do whatever is possible.

74% think Justice is not doing everything in their power, versus 23.4% who think they do.

In the same poll, ND hits a 26.7% of the vote, PASOK 15.4%, Plefsi Eleftherias (rapidly raising) 12%, Greek Solution 11.4%, KKE 9%, SYRIZA 8%, Voice of Reason 4.7, DiEM25 3.1% and Niki 3.1%.

A GPO poll found that 85% believe the government bears responsibility for the Tempi train disaster.

Also, one in two want early elections.

Pressured by the sudden awakening of the Greek society, four opposition parties (PASOK, SYRIZA, New Left, Course of Freedom) and nine independent MPs submitted a motion of no confidence in Parliament, gathering 85 signatures. The main focus of the opposition’s criticism was the government’s handling of the Tempi railway disaster, with the opposition accusing the government of a cover-up and institutional opacity in the search for accountability.

Following the massive 28th February demonstration, citizens flooded the streets again in hundreds of cities on Wednesday 5th of March, twice on Friday the 7th (while the debate on the motion of no confidence was unfolding in the Parliament – pupils at noon, others at evening), and on International Women’s Day 8 March.

Speaking during the motion-of-no-confidence debate in Parliament, Kyriakos Mitsotakis chose a sharp and arrogant tone. He dedicated little time to the Tempi tragedy. At the same time, he proposed a ‘deal’ to PASOK’s leader Androulakis: Ahead of the discussion on the constitutional revision, he invited him to agree on four issues. “Two will be proposed by you and two by us.“ He stated that ND would change the law on ministerial responsibility should PASOK agree to revise the Constitution’s Article 16 concerning public universities and remove civil service tenure. In short, the PM told Androulakis that should he accept that citizens pay for their education, the ND would agree to send ministers to Justice when suspected to have breached the law.

As they have been governing for 40 years, the two parties turned significant constitutional matters into a bargain. Chilling indeed.

The PM continued in a Napoleonic tone: “This interesting alliance (i.e. of the opposition) aimed to remove this government and the Prime Minister. And who should come instead? And with which plan? With which views on foreign policy? On health? On education?“ He also emphasised that as of 1st July, a 100-euro increase will be given to all uniformed officers, arguing that the government is doing its duty and „is protecting the right of any Greek citizen to protest.“

With 157 votes against and 136 in favor, the government overcame the motion of no confidence after a three-day heated debate. The ex-PM (coming from ND), Antonis Samaras, was absent, the independent (coming from ND) Marios Salmas and five MPs of the far-right Spartiates party.

Indeed, the Mitsotakis government ‘protected’ the constitutional right to peaceful assembly (he mentioned that), sending the police to crack down on all demonstrations.

It’s illustrative what happened on Wednesday’s rally: Reportedly, while the demonstrators were calling on the riot police officers to stand with them, they were sprayed with tear gas and chemicals. The police attacked protesters who were at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier and had lit candles in memory of the 57 victims of the incomprehensible railway tragedy. Police officers beat a demonstrator, throw him into trash bags, and press his head into the garbage. A police officer told a protester, „I’ll make 100 euros today, just from you for one hour. Thank you,“ when the protester reminded him that the citizens pay him. Police even gave protestors the ultimatum „disperse or we will arrest you“ like they can waive the right to public assembly (videos and photos of these incidents here).

Tip of the iceberg: Antonis Antoniou, a Tempi train survivor, reported he was detained by the police in Thessaloniki and kept incommunicado for three hours.

On Women’s Day, the police reportedly threw tear-gas and flash grenades at protestors when they reached the headquarters of Hellenic Train.