By Penelope Galliou

The day after the discussion of the majority conclusion of the commission of inquiry on the tragedy of Tempe, again finds the government and official opposition facing each other, opening a new round of confrontation. The new setting was triggered by move by the former Minister of Transport of SYRIZA, Christos Spirtzisto request the establishment of a special committee, attempting to pave the way for an investigation into both his ministry and his successors.

The said special committee originates from paragraph 5 of article 86 of the Constitution, according to which “if for any other reason, which includes the statute of limitations, the procedure concerning prosecution against a person who is or was a member of the Government is not terminated or Deputy Minister, the Parliament may, at the request of him or his heirs, set up a special committee”.

A request, which, however, does not meet the “characteristics” defined by the contested paragraph of the Constitution and related to the reference to “termination”. According to parliamentary sources, the invocation of this particular paragraph presupposes that a pre-investigation committee has already been established, which in this particular case is not the case as the Plenary Session of the Parliament has already rejected as unfounded two requests by SYRIZA and PASOK for the establishment of a pre-investigation committee for the “717” contract.

In fact, senior parliamentary sources clarified that the request of Mr. Spirtzis “has no precedent and, by extension, there is no precedent”. Furthermore, the corresponding request submitted by the former ND Minister Andreas Lykouretzos, regarding the “Novartis” case, had remained unanswered during the SYRIZA government and the presidency of Nikos Voutsis.

In the event, however, of the establishment of the special committee, it would consist of members of parliament, supreme judges and a vice-president of the Parliament, while what is emphasized is that paragraph 5 of article 86 of the Constitution, invoked by Mr. Spirtzis, does not even provide for legal consequences nor any continuation of the whole process. In any case, the letter has been forwarded to the Parliament’s scientific service which is expected to issue an opinion on the specific request.

Under these circumstances, government sources deconstructed the initiative of Christos Spirtzis and the operation of SYRIZA – as they said – to “fictitiously” maintain the issue of political responsibilities, as it is a move made out of safety in order to create impressions. “Mr. Spirtzis knows that this process cannot lead to criminal consequences; for him, therefore, he is acting on the safe side,” commented a government official, adding that from then on, it is an initiative aimed at obtaining political benefits both for himself , as well as SYRIZA.

Regarding the course of the investigation into the Tempe disaster, the Maximos Palace insists that the truth will emerge only through the documented evidence, through the investigation of justice and all the foreseen procedures that will shed light on the case, as happened from the first moment of the tragedy.

On the contrary, government sources commented that the “vague slanders and mud” spewed by SYRIZA and its executives, which have as a result the instrumentalization of such a serious case, are aimed at petty party exploitation of the issue to create temporary impressions.

“SYRIZA has the lion’s share in trying to instrumentalize this particular tragic accident, a process that does not at all honor the memory of those people who were lost in this tragic accident. It does not give any strength to the investigation. It is a process full of toxicity , full of insults, full of slanders, without evidence and argumentation” emphasized the government representative during the briefing of the political editors, commenting on the attitude and aspirations of SYRIZA.

Government sources also recalled that during the SYRIZA government, Article 86 of the Constitution and the Ministerial Liability Act were used 11 times to cover up their own government officials.

In contrast, the ND in 2019 equated the statute of limitations for the offenses of ministers and government officials with those of every citizen, so that there are no two-speed citizens.