PM launches political counter-offensive amidst popular unrest, charges of Tempe cover-up

In a no-holds-barred interview with the centre-right daily Kathimerini published today, the PM blasts opposition parties for allegedly attempting to exploit the popular outrage for petty partisan gain.

Mitsotakis maintains that critics of the government’s handling of the tragedy are undermining state institutions, with recent strong criticism of the judiciary’s handling of the case in his opinion being a prime example of a fuelling of distrust of the entire political system, which he said can lead to the implementation of the “law of the jungle” in the country.

Polls: judiciary, government not doing enough

Yet, it is not only the opposition and the association of victim’s families that have cast grave doubts about the determination of the government and the judiciary to get to the bottom of the case and rapidly mete out justice.

In a 30 January MRB survey conducted just days after the enormous demonstrations, a whopping 77.5 percent of respondents said that the judiciary is not doing all it can (57 percent said “certainly not” and 17 percent “probably not”) to fully shed light on the affair.

There was even greater doubt (81 percent of respondents) that the government is doing all it can.

Indeed, two years after the crash the judiciary has not opined on the causes of the crash – the PM in a recent interview on Alpha TV said he too is most eager to learn the truth – and in recent days videos that were reportedly “accidentally found” appear to show that there were no freight cars carrying contraband flammable liquids.

It has long been maintained – in part due to cell phone calls by passengers who said they were gasping for air – that most of the victims died due to a huge conflagration when the two trains, travelling in opposite directions on the same rail line, crashed.

The barrage of conflicting information has confused the public and fermented the notion that the handling of the affair is characterised by a serious lack of transparency.

PM admits deficiencies, to make demands on Italian Hellenic Trains operator

After nearly six years as prime minister, Mitsotakis in his interview admitted that there is still much to be done to bring the Greek railway system up to par. Hellenic Trains (previously named Trainose and which operates on OSE’s railway infrastructure) was privatised in 2017 and taken over by Italy’s national railway company (Ferrovio dello Stato Italiane).

“I will pressure for the company to bring more and better trains By 2027, the Athens-Thessaloniki line must be completely new,” the PM told Kathimerini.

He did not respond to the question of whether he will broach the issue With Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

New railway oversight, planning organisation

Mitsotakis pledged that he will create a new railways oversight and planning organisation, with a radical restructuring of the existing one and the hiring of the best experts in the field.

“In the next two years, Greece must have a railway system that meets the standards of our era,” he said.

Economic progress not trickling down to citizens’ purses

While ticking of a list of data that indicate a positive course of the Greek economy, the PM conceded that the public is not as yet fully partaking in the benefits.

He asserted that the government has achieved ambitious targets in the most important economic indicators: fiscal stability, surpluses, a low cost of borrowing, maintaining investment grade, and the share of exports in GDP.

“We have a way to go until this collective progress is reflected in the income of citizens,” he said.

Indeed, inflation has devoured any benefit of moderate increases in wages and tax cuts.

All opinion polls indicate that galloping inflation is the number one concern of the Greek citizenry, with a large percentage of middle and lower income families finding it extremely difficult t make ends meet, even on absolute necessities.

Trump and the EU

As regards the economic threat of tariffs to be imposed by the Trump administration, the PM said that there must be a collective EU response, and that they will harm both the US and Europe.

He asserted that the repercussions will be smaller for Greece due to the lower volume of its exports.

He also argued in favour of a cohesive European defence fund, along the lines of the COVID Recovery Fund, and the exemption of defence spending from EU fiscal strictures on government spending.

Source: tovima.com