Unanswered Questions: Greece’s Train Accident and the No Confidence Vote Against Prime Minister Mitsotakis

In the aftermath of a serious train accident that occurred in Greece about a year ago, the Social Democratic Party Pasok has requested a vote of no confidence against conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The motion was rejected by 159 MPs who voted against it and 141 MPs who voted for it. Despite this setback, the government under Mitsotakis remains in office.

The train accident took place on February 28, 2023, when a freight train collided with an Intercity near Larissa in central Greece, resulting in the death of 57 people. The head of the Larissa station admitted to directing the intercity to the wrong track, while opposition parties accused the government of tampering with evidence, particularly leaked radio conversations between the train driver and station master that suggested errors by the station manager were solely responsible for the accident.

Prime Minister Mitsotakis acknowledged that some responsibility lay with the state for the accident since safety systems on the railway were functioning inadequately at that time. However, he claimed that if only errors made by station managers had been corrected earlier, then there would not have been an accident. The investigation revealed poor condition of rail network and inadequate safety measures which led to this tragic incident.

Despite all these revelations and investigations, it is still unclear when this case will be dealt with in court. It has deeply shocked Greece as many victims were young people returning from university holidays at that time. This event highlighted once again how poor infrastructure can lead to catastrophic results and how important it is for governments to invest enough resources into maintaining safe transport systems for their citizens.