By Penelope Galliou

In a charged climate, twenty days after the tragic accident in Tempi, with the opposition looking for Kostas Ah. Karamanli the answers and the opinion polls show that the responsibilities always lie with all governments, the Institutions and Transparency committee of the Parliament opens today the way of the institutional investigation of the accident in Tempe.

At 10 am the former Minister of Transport Kostas Ah. Karamanlis he will cross the threshold of the committee, and he will be “face to face” confronted with the accusations of the opposition but also with the questions that they have been asking for days and asking for answers from him, on whose “shift” the fatal accident occurred. The parliamentary debate, which is expected to be held in an atmosphere of tension and controversy, will open the “file” of the state of the country’s railways more widely. A discussion that will refer not only to the current conditions of the current four-year government of the ND and the management of the railway networks, but also to the recent past, as all the ministers who managed the controversial contract 717 have been summoned to be heard at the meeting of the Committee on Institutions and Transparency for telegovernance and in particular the Minister of Transport of SYRIZA Christos Spirtzis, the Minister of the ND-PASOK joint government Michalis Chrysochoidis and the Minister of State who is now also responsible for transport and infrastructure, Giorgos Gerapetritis.

Of course, the great interest is focused on the placement of the resigned Minister of Transport Kostas Ah. Karamanlis, who chose to answer institutionally, through the Parliament, for everything that the opposition imputes to him, but also to present and file for the information of the Parliament, his colleagues and the public opinion all the information he has and has in his hands and is aware of the state of the railways in the country.

According to the environment of Mr. Karamanlis, the former Minister is expected to come to the Parliament with documents concerning the contracts for railway projects, presenting the relevant documents, referring to the signatories of the contracts and decisions as well as the dates of project extensions that he succeeded the other, seeking to highlight what was done during his term but also what was not done in the previous years.

And on a political level, Kostas Ah. Karamanlis is expected to respond to the criticism leveled at him by the opposition and especially SYRIZA, which, according to his interlocutors, accuses him of instrumentalizing the tragedy of Tempe, arguing that it is “absurd that those who delayed for 4.5 years are not held accountable, but to abandon those who unblocked and within a few months they will deliver the project”.

In the answers of Kostas Ah. Karamanlis was referred to by the government representative speaking to SKAI and Giorgos Autias, stating that the government said from the first moment that “anyone who has something to contribute to the public debate, anyone who handled issues and cases related to the Tempe accident, must answer questions , to state his opinion transparently, to give full accountability to the Greek people. We did not hide behind our finger for a moment. The truth is the one that will answer the lies and the slanders and the exaggerations. It’s what society demands, it’s the minimum we owe to the people who left,” stressed Yannis Oikonomou.

Although the subject of the candidacy of Kostas Ah. Karamanlis in the upcoming elections is not within the competence of the parliamentary committee and is not the subject of its work, it is not excluded in the context of the political confrontation which is expected to be tough and to put everything on the “table”, that the issue be raised by the opposition. Under this possibility, associates of Mr. Karamanlis report that the former Minister has not changed his position yet, and his pursuit and desire is to be put to the judgment of the Serrai people, who are also the ones who will judge and decide at the ballot box for his political future.

During the meeting of the Committee on Institutions and Transparency and while the committee will examine the said case of the Tempe accident the SYRIZA will replace some of the members of the committee to facilitate the discussion and in particular the responsible heads of the Transport Department of the party Nikos Pappas and Christos Giannoulis who have more specific knowledge of the subject will replace the SYRIZA MPs Andreas Xanthopoulos and Spyros Lappa while instead of Pavlos Polakis at the meeting SYRIZA’s Transparency department head Yiannis Ragousis will attend, who in any case succeeded Mr. Polakis in this department, after the internal party crisis that had recently arisen. ND is expected, according to information, to replace MP Kostas Tsavaras due to a health issue he is dealing with, with Dimitris Kairides.​