Motion of no confidence against the Mitsotakis government

In Greece, a motion of no confidence has been filed against Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' government by the main opposition center-left PASOK party and lawmakers from other left-wing parties due to the deadly 2023 train crash. While the motion was signed by 85 lawmakers, a vote of confidence for the Mitsotakis government will be held on Friday.

The lawmakers stated that the government has "lost the support of the people," alleging that it is evading responsibility for the crash, has failed to fix critical security vulnerabilities, and has covered up evidence. The Mitsotakis government, however, rejected all accusations and announced that it expects to win the vote of confidence, as it holds 156 seats in the 300-seat parliament.

In his speech to parliament, Mitsotakis stated that the opposition's claims "threaten Greece's internal political stability during a turbulent international period," adding, "As a government, we will modernize the railway network managed by the state enterprise by 2027 and will reach an agreement with a foreign company to undertake its maintenance."

ATTENTION DRAWN TO VIOLATIONS

A passenger train carrying 352 people from Athens, the capital of Greece, to Thessaloniki collided head-on with a freight train in the Tempi region on the night connecting February 28 to March 1, 2023. It was revealed that the crash, which claimed the lives of 57 people, occurred due to negligence. Following the crash, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Kostas Karamanlis resigned. In a report published yesterday by the Hellenic Accident Investigation and Railway Safety Committee (HARSIA), it was stated that there were serious staff shortages, a failure to take appropriate safety measures, and critical-level violations spanning years in Greece's railway system. The judicial investigation into the crash is expected to be completed by the end of this year.