Greece: Govt Survives No-Confidence Vote Over Train Crash

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Facts

• Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's conservative government defeated on Thursday, 159 to 141, a no-confidence vote tabled by opposition parties over the handling of an investigation into the country's deadliest rail crash.¹
• Given that such a motion had to be approved by an absolute majority in the 300-seat parliament, some New Democracy lawmakers would have had to support the motion, or at least abstain, for it to have passed.²
• While the government survived the no-confidence vote, two ministers resigned after an opposition leader revealed that they had drinks on Sunday night with a businessman that the government claimed to be behind the motion.³
• The vote was put forward after the weekly To Vima published on Sunday a front-page story about doctored audio tapes leaked to the press in the wake of the Tempi train disaster.⁴
• 57 people, mostly students, died and some 80 others were injured in Feb. 2023 after a passenger train that departed from Athens to Thessaloniki crashed with a goods train near Larissa.⁵
• According to separate polls, an overwhelming majority of Greeks claim that neither the judicial nor the political establishment had ensured justice after the tragedy as well as that a cover-up is likely to have taken place.⁶

Sources: ¹Associated Press, ²Keep Talking Greece, ³eKathimerini.com, ⁴Tovima.Com, ⁵Bloomberg and ⁶POLITICO.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Courthouse News Service. The opposition knew beforehand that this motion was likely to fail to remove the government, as New Democracy holds an absolute majority in parliament, so the goal here was to put the prime minister and his allies in a position they wanted to avoid. Legal troubles have just started, and most Greeks now deeply distrust them.
• Narrative B, as provided by Greek City Times. One year after the Tempi train tragedy, Greece must remain united to find the truth, hold those responsible accountable, and prevent similar disasters in the future. That's why this failed no-confidence motion could do no good for the country. It's time to let justice work with due diligence in a timely manner.

Predictions