“As a political system we must now decide how to proceed. Blasting or building. We will turn the pain of Tempe into strength so that never again will Greek society grieve so unfairly for so many of our fellow human beings. This is the bet that the ND Government and all the Greek people are responding to,” said the Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Dimitris Kairides, during the discussion of the motion of no confidence submitted by PASOK-KINAL, SYRIZA, New Left and Pleussi Eleftherias.

Mr. Kairides accused PASOK-KINAL and the Opposition parties that co-signed the no-confidence motion of “irrationality” and that they are dragged “into the dance of extreme right-wing paroxysm and sharpness that you cannot compete with”. The protagonist, said the minister, “is the Greek Solution and you are dragging behind the conspiracy theory of Mr. Velopoulos.”

The minister said that the Government and ND are attending this discussion “with respect and to discuss everything soberly and with arguments”.

He rejected that “Greece is diverging economically and politically from Europe because of the ND Government” as stated in the final sentence of the text of the motion of no confidence and wondered “where does this come from?” When Greece runs two and three times above the European average GDP growth? Having a lower unemployment average than Spain? Lower borrowing rate from Italy?’ or “when reports like that of the Economist elevate the Republic of Greece above that of America or Belgium, Italy and many other European countries”

Mr. Kairides noted that “the pulverization of the presumption of innocence, cannibalism and cannibalism are related to the Rule of Law you say”. We stand, he said, “with absolute respect for the pain of the relatives of the victims but also for the nationwide pain for the great loss, the national trauma” The Government, he added, assumed the political responsibility that has to do with the fact that “our society and the political system tolerated the mess of the OSE. The OSE is a black page for postcolonialism. As the OSE met all the pathologies of the post-political system, there is no doubt. Partisanism, nepotism, corruption, entanglement, sick unionism, all that made this mess. But obviously one person is not responsible for this mess. The Minister at the time (Mr. K. Karamanlis) assumed the political responsibility beyond that which was attributed to him”

The minister emphasized that “this tragedy in Tempi should become the driving force to build a State as the Greek people want and deserve. And this is what the ND is doing”

Regarding whether there are any criminal responsibilities, Mr. Kairides said that “this is being considered by the Court of Justice, which at the moment has charged many charges and is proceeding at a very fast pace in the hearing process.”

Commenting on the opposition’s criticism that crucial witnesses were excluded from the Commission of Inquiry, the minister said “too many witnesses were called and I testified as witnesses proposed by the Opposition, but I did not see a single sentence of that testimony being repeated by you. That is, nothing remarkable about you was said by these witnesses. In this way, you left the tragedy behind you and now you have caught a new story of which you are not the authentic exponents, but Mr. Velopoulos. You adopted them after the fact”

Mr. Kairides said that it is unprecedented that “we are dealing with a competition. We are dealing with a party (PASOK) that believed it could come second. There were the opinion polls that deflated those hopes” and that’s why Mr. Androulakis took this decision in the contest he has with SYRIZA.

The minister said that “the Greek people have experience from the dangers of irrationality, the face of alienation, the cultivation of anger, emotion at the expense of logic and from the traumas of 2015” and can perceive the difference with “politics of logic, institutional behavior, moderation and Europe” expressed by the ND.

SYRIZA’s parliamentary representative Christos Giannoulis, addressing the minister, said that “the main person responsible for the events that concern Parliament today is called Kyriakos Mitsotakis, not Velopoulos, not Androulakis, not Kasselakis. All this is the result of the policy signed by Kyriakos Mitsotakis”. Invited Mr. Kairides to comment on the post made by VIMATOS director Antonis Karakousis

The parliamentary representative of the Hellenic Solution, Konstantinos Chitas, told the minister that “the Hellenic Solution is not a conspiracy theorist, as the bombardment, the transfer of xylene from the commercial train and revealed by the questions submitted by the Hellenic Solution, or the death of the 57 people, is it a conspiracy? You are unrepentant and respect nothing. However, the result of the European elections in June will not be a conspiracy, it will be a harsh reality for you that you will receive from the Greek men and women. Call off the far right and come to a serious political dialogue with us”

The parliamentary representative of the Freedom of Navigation, Alexandros Kazamias, intervened and accused the minister that “his position had inaccuracies and he insisted on a sad argumentation aimed at hiding the weaknesses of the Government to defend itself” and called on him that “instead of apologizing the Government for what you are accountable for you try to hide behind your finger saying that we are dragging behind the Greek Solution but in this way you do not escape and you do not convince anyone”

The minister insisted that the parties that co-signed the motion of no confidence are pulling back from the Greek Solution.