The Parliamentary Group of the KKE proposes the formation of an Inquiry Committee to investigate the “crime of Tempe and all aspects” related to it

As the KKE points out, among other things, in its text “the crime of Tempe in which 57 people lost their lives, mostly young people and shocked our country and people, must be examined in depth”. He emphasizes that “it is characteristic that in the EU itself in 2021 there were 1389 railway accidents with 636 deaths and 513 injuries, while 97 of these accidents involved train collisions”.

The text in detail

The crime of Tempe in which 57 people lost their lives, mostly young people and shocked our country and people, must be examined in depth and in this direction the KKE from the first moment emphasized that it must be investigated in all ways so that to attribute the responsibilities, political and criminal, to all those responsible, where they exist.
The undoubtedly criminal errors and omissions of those directly involved in the accident cannot hide the root causes that fuel these crimes.

The KKE repeatedly warned in the parliament about these dangers from the policy of the liberalization of rail transport promoted by the EU. Because it is precisely within the framework of this policy that rail accidents have increased in recent years and sounded the alarm for “a the biggest disaster to come”, as the trade union faction of the KKE warned in this area, just 20 days before the crime of Tempe.

It is typical that in the EU itself in 2021 there were 1389 railway accidents with 636 deaths and 513 injuries, while 97 of these accidents involved train collisions.
The real culprit behind the accident in Tempe is the EU rail policy itself, the policy of transport liberalization, which all governments to date have implemented to the letter.

The promotion of this EU policy was done gradually and each Greek government had its own participation and responsibility in the implementation of these dangerous plans.
The first act of the drama was done in 1997 by the PASOK government, which proceeded to adapt the national legislation to the Community legislation, introducing into the national law the European directives 91/440, 95/18 and 95/19.

A year later, Law 2671/1998 on the OSE, implemented the now national legislation and proceeded with the internal restructuring of the OSE, implementing the accounting separation of infrastructure and exploitation, paving the way for the dramatic continuation.

This was followed in 2005 by the ND government, PD 41/2005, with which the harmonization of Greek legislation with the first EU railway package was implemented.

In the same year, the first major restructuring of OSE’s corporate structure is implemented. The company TRAINOSE is created, as a merger of PROASTIAKOS S.A. (an already existing subsidiary of OSE) and the rest of OSE’s rail service activities. Initially, TRAINOSE remained a subsidiary of the OSE group.

In 2008, TRAINOSE became independent from OSE and finally the independence of TRAINOSE was completed with the last legislation of the PASOK government, which canceled the last remaining connecting link between the two companies, granting the rolling stock of OSE to the ownership of TRAINOSE and replacing it until then current equipment rental regime from TRAINOSE.

The next act of drama took place with PASOK’s 2010 law on railways, which was the last link in a long chain of reactionary reforms that, as a whole, constitute the liberalization of rail transport. This law implements the completion of the separation of OSE and TRAINOSE, the separation of infrastructure and operation, while providing for an extensive operational restructuring of railway companies.

The SYRIZA government, then, was the one that proceeded with the sale of TRAINOSE to the Italian railways, while then, during the ND government, the process of absorbing the rolling stock maintenance company from TRAINOSE was completed.

Liberalization of rail transport is literally the recipe for increased risk, both for passengers and rail workers. In a system of great complexity, great sensitivity and many risks, many different companies are active, each of which aims at the greatest possible profit and the transfer of costs to the others.

This situation led to the aggravation of the problems and the increase in the danger of rail transport. Here we also have to take into account the competition from the groups that have invested in major road axes, and an upgrade of rail transport can have a negative effect on their profitability.

All the parameters concerning the prevention and limitation of the consequences of major accidents enter the cost-benefit scale for each group and for the capital state.

Decisions are made based on capitalist profitability: For the number of hires, the rate and hours of work, the level of wages and the essential training of workers.

Based on the EU’s commitments and directions, and capital’s strategy, the civil state chooses which investments to prioritize and which amount of funds to allocate. Thus, there are no surplus funds in Greece for the maintenance and guarding of the lines and the railway material, for the equipment and for the essential control of the operation of the railways, while generous funds are given for the Sea2Sea project, the railway interconnection of the ports of Northern Greece, Bulgaria and Romania.

The most characteristic example is the painful delay in the operation of the remote control system, which is one of the factors to prevent and limit the consequences of any human error in the relevant manipulations. This is the now infamous contract 717/2014 which has not yet been completed, 8.5 years after its assignment, under the responsibility of the SYRIZA and ND governments. Governments, which proved to be very capable of implementing with fast-track procedures many profitable investment projects of the groups, but here they moved at a turtle’s pace, with delays and freezing of the procedures for predictable problems in most of the corresponding public projects.

Unfortunately, this is not the only lack, the only delay. The sign is negative in all critical parameters related to transport safety. The understaffing and degraded operation of the competent state authorities for railways is another typical example.
From all of the above, it is confirmed that with the policy that puts the cost-benefit in the balance with the interests of capital and capitalist profitability as a criterion, the needs, safety and life of the people are sacrificed.

It is therefore imperative that the Parliament set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate all aspects related to the crime of Tempe in conjunction with the parallel investigation by the criminal justice system as well as the lawsuit filed by the relatives of the victims in which significant data.
Despite the negative experience that exists from the past from the operation of these Commissions of Inquiry due to the correlation of forces, the KKE will do everything it can to investigate the crime of Tempe and through the formation of a Commission of Inquiry.

For these reasons the KKE Parliamentary Group:

It proposes, in accordance with article 68 par. 2 paragraphs c and d in conjunction with article 144 par. 5 paragraph b of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, the formation of an Inquiry Committee that will investigate all the above aspects related to the crime of Tempe with the 57 dead and the 85 or so injured

The signatories

DIMITRIS KOUTSOUMBAS
ABATIELOS NIKOS
GIOKAS YANNIS
DANGA VIVI
DELIS YIANNIS
PREMIUM SEMINAR
PRINCE NIKOS
CINNAMON LIANA
KARATHANASOPOULOS NIKOS
KATSOTIS CHRISTOS
COMNINAKA MARIA
PET OF VENUS
LAMBROULIS GIORGOS
MANOLAKOU DIAMOND
MARINOS GIORGOS
METAXAS VASILIS
PAPANASTASSIS NIKOS
PAPHILIS THANASIS
STOLTIDIS LEONIDAS
SYNTYCHAKIS MANOLIS
CHRISTOS TSOKANIS