“Greek society is still under the influence of the shock caused by the tragic accident in Tempi with many deaths. The pain, the sadness, the rage abound as no one has yet been able to rationalize and manage this horrible, hideous event. The thoughts of all of us are with the families of those who lost their people so unjustly, their children, parents, siblings, they are with the people who lost friends and colleagues. All Greek women and men sympathize and stand by the indescribable drama that brought unbearable pain to dozens of families and their loved ones. In the tragedy that will always torment both our individual and collective memory”, emphasized the government representative, Yiannis Oikonomou, starting the briefing for the political editors.

He pointed out that material and emotional care is still being taken for the injured, referring to the Prime Minister’s post through which he asked for a big and deep apology both personally and in the name of all those who have ruled the country for years as, as the Greek State said, it has a past , has a present and of course a future. “Because indeed – as the prime minister said – in Greece in 2023, it is not possible for two trains to move in opposite directions on the same line without anyone noticing. We cannot, we do not want and we are not going to hide – as the prime minister said – behind human error”.

Mr. Economou referred to the interventions to immediately improve the safety of the railways, which Mr. Gerapetritis will carry out in the coming days, until the electronic management system is completed. He will also immediately ask the European Commission and other friendly countries for their assistance in know-how in order to obtain an even safer railway network as quickly as possible. At the same time the prime minister will seek additional community funding in order to maintain and quickly upgrade the existing network. He also said that he will propose to all parties to commit from now on, regardless of the election result, in the next Parliament to set up a Special Committee, i.e. an Inquiry Committee that will investigate the history of the Greek Railways in the last twenty years.

“It is the duty of all of us – as the prime minister emphasized from the very beginning – to do everything in our power to prevent such a tragic event from ever happening again. It is also a priority to fully investigate every aspect and to find out the causes of the tragedy so that, on the one hand, its repetition is excluded and on the other hand, the responsibilities are assigned where they belong”.

He then referred to the Prime Minister’s conversation with the President of the Commission.

“It is plausible that this tragedy could have been avoided if a series of systemic problems and malfunctions that have been perpetuated for too many years did not occur,” he added, referring to the formation of a special committee to investigate and highlight systemic problems and malfunctions in the rail network. He emphasized that it is supra-partisan, technocratic and has competence, while it goes without saying that it will not deal with the attribution of responsibilities for which a judicial investigation is underway. It will carry out its work, transparently, objectively, without interference, with completeness in the shortest possible time while under no circumstances will it replace the Greek Justice.

On the contrary, its conclusions will be made available to the Court. He added that in this direction, the Prime Minister earlier sent a letter to the prosecutor of the Supreme Court in which he requests on behalf of the Greek government the prioritization of the cases related to the investigation of this particular case and, according to the judgment of Mr. Dogiakos, assignment to the highest possible investigative level of the of this case.

He made special reference to the pathogenesis of the Greek railways which is timeless and multifaceted and listed a number of incontrovertible events such as the fatal train accident in May 2017 in ‘Adendros Thessaloniki where 4 people were killed and 10 were injured.

Also vandalism and the inability to repair damages resulting in the gradual cessation of the operation of the old system of the previous technology where it existed, the successive extensions to a contract that was signed in 2014 and had to be completed in 2016, the response times of various structures of the Greek state for supplies, recruitment, the consequences of the memorandum period on the staffing and operation of the Organization, the sequence of mistakes on the fateful night of the accident.

He emphasized that the truth is sought and the government guarantees that ample light will be shed on every dimension of the event.

In closing, he emphasized that the rational assessment of the situation in the railway network does not aim, nor can it achieve, to lift this veil of suffering that has covered our country and shadows everything. “However, neither nihilism, nor general aphorisms, nor much more the lies peddled by some from the very first moment of the tragedy, help.”

“One thing is the responsibility at every level and another is the attempt to hijack the sadness and the anger that characterizes Greek society today,” he said characteristically.

Concluding, he said that on Thursday at 11 a.m. the regular meeting of the Council of Ministers will take place, there will be an update from the Minister of State responsible for Infrastructure and Transport Mr. Gerapetritis on the issues of the tragic accident, possible institutional moves and interventions imposed for some things that need to be done immediately.