By Yannis Anifantis

The lights of the commission of inquiry were closed, with the conclusion of the governing majority being approved last night after the end of the last meeting.

The parties – as expected – failed to agree on a common conclusion on the causes that led to the train accident in Tempe, which led to a vote and the adoption of the New Democracy proposals. The 700-page conclusion – approved by a majority – is ready to be debated in the Plenary in March.

The final meeting, however, was marked by tensions, with the interventions of the President of Freedom of Navigation, Zoe Konstantopoulou, leading to at least 2 interruptions, with the commission’s board even deciding to change the room.

What does the ND’s conclusion say?

In the conclusive position of New Democracy, extensive reference is made to the human since on the fateful night of the accident the GKK (General Traffic Regulation) was violated 7 times, while no responsibilities or omissions of politicians arise, with K. Karamalis taking over with his resignation, the As for the interventions at the scene of the accident, the conclusion states that “they were carried out by the competent operational bodies, guided by the need to move the damaged trains”, rejecting the scenario of an attempted cover-up.

Episodic last meeting

However, the choice of Zoe Konstantopoulou to attend the proceedings and ask for the floor, filing a request for exemption from the board of examiners, lit fires in room 223, before the meeting really started.

From the very first meeting, in November 2023, the committee had decided to expel her as a member of the committee, because of her position as an advocate for relatives of the accident victims. But Ms. Konstantopoulou did not accept this development, and yesterday at noon at 3:00 p.m., she was in the examination room in order to take the floor and denounce the presidency for discriminatory management, applying for the exception of the president, Dimitris Markopoulou, with him interrupts the meeting in an atmosphere of great tension. Another break followed at 16.30, with the committee’s work finally starting at 18.00 in the plenary hall. Zoe Konstantopoulou’s voices continued outside the microphone until late at night, with her last rebuttals with the chairman of the committee being indicative of the electrified atmosphere that also prevailed in the plenary hall:

Dimitris Markopoulos, Chairman of the Board of Examiners: Is someone whispering?

Zoe Konstantopoulou, President of Freedom of Navigation: What you are doing is a travesty!

Dimitris Markopoulos, President of the Examining Board: I might agree with some things!

Preliminary and Justice from the opposition

Criminal responsibilities for Costas Karamanis and Christos Triandopoulos finds the conclusion of SYRIZA, with the official opposition requesting further investigation by a natural judge to search for possible criminal responsibilities of the former Ministers of Transport Mr. Kostas Karamanlis, Christos Spirtzis and Michalis Chrysochoidis, for the convention 717. Today at noon, however, SYRIZA – PS MPs and members of the Commission are expected to submit the party’s conclusion to the Supreme Court.

PASOK – which did not submit a conclusion – points out the need for the investigation to turn into a preliminary investigation, without however submitting a relevant proposal, while the KKE – which has also submitted its conclusion to the Supreme Court – assigns criminal responsibility to Chr. Spirtzis and K. Karamanlis.

The cycle of the parliamentary investigation committee is expected to be officially closed, with the discussion of the conclusion in the plenary session, probably next week.