Instrumentalization of the Tempe tragedy for political reasons, “with a sad parliamentary show”, hypocrisy, underestimation of the Greek people and disrespect to the memory of the dead, the Minister of Development charged,Adonis Georgiadesto SYRIZA and Alexis Tsipras, during his response to the official opposition leader’s speech in the Plenary.

Adonis Georgiadis called it “unthinkable” for Mr. Tsipras to accuse the prime minister of a lack of empathy and talk about a show of government officials, when, unlike Kyriakos Mitsotakis, he never apologized for the tragedy in Mati, nobody ever resigned, while he and his ministers, with so many victims, that night and the following days, had put on a show and pretended that there were no dead, mocking the Greek people.

In response to the criticism leveled at the Prime Minister for the reports of “sacrifice” of the dead in Tempe and “opportunity”, the Minister of Development testified to the minutes of Alexis Tsipras’ tweet, in which he referred to the killing of Pavlos Fyssas as a “sacrifice” that demonstrates the criminal face of Golden Dawn and statement of Andreas Xanthos that “tragedy in Mati is an opportunity”.

“A little shame and a little sting,” he said to his ward SYRIZA and accused the president of SYRIZA that putting forward Tempi “thinking he will get votes” is “politically indecent, cheap and shows that you have not learned anything about the reason the Greek people voted against you” and called on him not to appear as the only undefiled and irresponsible.

Tsipras and his ministers put on a show in Mati

“Respect for the memory of the victims does not allow quarrels and instrumentalization for political reasons” said Mr. Georgiadis, taking the floor after the president of SYRIZA, but – as he said – he owes answers to the “unthinkable” and “outrageous” things he accused the prime minister of and the government, Mr. Tsipras, with the accident in Tempi as a peak.

“However, the Greek people do not suffer from amnesia, nor have so many years passed since the other, the previous terrible tragedy in Mati and the show that Mr. Tsipras put on that same night and the show that his ministers put on a few days later after. For Mr. Tsipras to come and say this in the Parliament, while we have dead people in Tempi, shows not only his hypocrisy, it shows the magnitude of the underestimation of the Greek people and their memory”.

He also said that “for Mr. Tsipras to accuse Kyriakos Mitsotakis of a lack of empathy is outrageous” countering that Kyriakos Mitsotakis, as prime minister, immediately apologized for what happened and the responsible minister resigned a few hours after the accident. On the contrary, Mr. Tsipras, in the tragedy in Mati, to this day has not apologized to anyone, none of his ministers resigned and in the press conferences they said that they did everything perfectly and the only ones to blame were the residents. “Is it possible for Tsipras to blame Mitsotakis for a lack of empathy?” he questioned and pointed out that even the bill we are passing today is a de facto apology of the state. He made it clear that “none of us believe that these measures that we are voting on today can equalize the pain of the people. Nothing can equal the loss of the child” however he said that since the state cannot turn back time – “I wish we could” – this is the most we can do on a human level today, to show that we have full empathy of what these people are going through.

“And he wants Mr. Tsipras to reduce them to a sad parliamentary show against Kyriakos Mitsotakis ahead of the national elections. It’s a shame for us,” said Mr. Georgiadis.

“Take the sacrifice, take the opportunity, take the hypocrisy”

In response to Mr. Tsipras’ reference at the beginning of his speech that death cannot be a sacrifice, which Mr. Georgiadis said was done “with the aim of hurting the prime minister,” he published a tweet by Mr. Tsipras about the killing of Pavlos Fyssa from the executives of AXA who said: “By sacrificing his life, Pavlos Fyssas exposed the murderous face of Golden Dawn”. “There his death looks like a sacrifice, as if Pavlos Fyssas wanted to die that night” asked the minister.

And to the question raised by the official opposition leader “if it is possible for a tragedy to be an opportunity?” contradicted a statement by the former SYRIZA minister, Andreas Xanthou, according to which “the tragedy in Mati is an opportunity for reflection”.

“Take the sacrifice, take the opportunity, take the hypocrisy” said Mr. Georgiadis, addressing the SYRIZA wing and claiming that “they have not suffered at all for Tempi” because – as he argued – “if they had hurt, like the rest of us, they would be ashamed to look for the slightest word to make propaganda to win votes.”

“The only one who does not take responsibility is SYRIZA”

“No person with true sensitivity and empathy dares to use this tragedy to win votes. Only Mr. Tsipras, as he did in Mati that night, without having the slightest sensitivity – because he knew there were dead people and he hid it from the Greek people – he did here today as well. A little shame a little sting. We have a national tragedy and we, all parties, are doing everything we can to make sure it never happens again. With one sad exception. We all said it was our fault. All who ruled in their due share. Only SYRIZA, in all of Greece, claims that it is not to blame. The only unsullied and immaculate one who did everything perfectly is SYRIZA. And when you tell them “you say it’s not your fault but you had four deaths on the railways” and there they answer: there was a derailment, not a collision, that’s all. This is their excuse, as if these four had no soul. And I have to say it: all those who lose their lives should be honored. Everyone should be respected equally. And to them and their relatives, we must show the same respect.”

Concluding his answer, to Mr. Tsipras, Mr. Georgiadis accused him of promoting Tempi because he thinks that this leads him to better political results, while forgetting their own responsibilities for everything they did when they ruled.

“But this is politically undignified, cheap and shows that you have learned nothing about the reason the Greek people voted against you. The Greek people will tell you the rest on May 21 and the answer will be deafening” concluded the Minister of Development.