By Yannis Anifantis

After a total of 40 hours of meetings, 163 placements of speakers and three days of parliamentary work, the Plenary Session of the Parliament rejected shortly before 11 pm on Thursday the motion of no confidence against the government tabled by PASOK (and co-signed by SYRIZA – New Left and Freedom Movement ), with the 158 MPs of the governing majority and the independent MP Haris Katsivardas voting against it and the 141 MPs of the opposition voting in favor of the proposal.

The climate of extreme polarization that prevailed during the three-day parliamentary process, with fierce attacks and heavy personal characterizations, gave the informal signal for the start of the pre-election period in view of the European elections, with the political thermometer remaining in the “red” for the next two months. However, the last day of the meetings was marked by two different events, the resignation of the ministers, Stavros Papastavros and Yiannis Bratakos, but also the repeated interruptions of the meeting, due to the absence of the political leaders.

Mitsotakis: No cover-up order was given – I will not co-govern with despots

At the beginning of his installation, the prime minister decided to address in a personal tone the relatives of the victims, some of whom were in the stands, with him turning his gaze several times towards their seats, saying that he was looking into their eyes. “Unfortunately, in the face of the tragedy, we have not been able to march together with fewer shadows, screams and mutual accusations like the ones we heard today and lead the citizens to close their ears and not believe anyone and anything,” said Mr. Mitsotakis and added : “for this reason I kept a low tone, I apologized on behalf of all those who ruled the place without changing the bad texts of the railways. Without believing that there are Greeks who mourn more than others. Our political opponents have chosen a stance that no one thought of in the past, as in Mati and Mandra. They wanted to make suffering a banner. To turn suffering into a political tool to beat me and the government.”

From the floor of the parliament, Kyriakos Mitsotakis also sent messages with multiple recipients, on the occasion of the publication of Vimas about the “editing” of the audio of the accident: “The publication is published which is immediately denied, we knew this since March 2, it does not say nothing new and while there seems to be no content show impressive reflexes. A skeptic would tell you that you knew about the article before the paper was printed! Huh? look ahead! My point is clear what I meant here.”

“The only goal is for Mitsotakis to fall. Fresh from the popular verdict, I am afraid that with your behavior and the extremes and the vocabulary you adopt, you are trampling on the collective mourning and preventing justice from doing its job”, stressed the Prime Minister, addressing Mr. Androulakis, with him also attacks the leader of the official opposition, on the occasion of his latest reports on the need to hold elections in the country with international observers: “No one has thought to question the greatest achievement of the post-revolutionary regime, the free and fair elections and the smooth transition of power from the losers to the winners. This acquis was not challenged neither in 89-90 nor in 2000 when the ND of K. Karamanlis lost with 70,000 votes. For Mr. Kasselakis to come now to question. The other side of the coin is that he’s just plain stupid, and I don’t know what’s worse every day he’s throwing a different shit and he probably wants to build up an immunity to stupidity.”

“Angel societies don’t exist, I support distinct responsibilities and limits in democracy. Governments set the rules and this leads to conflict, this is the cost of different roles. This is not new, we have lived in our country in times of intertwined relationships, davatzis, images of an old Greece, we do not forget Vatopedi and its descendants. But I will not co-govern with any centrist at the helm of the country, they are the ones who vote for the many and not the few and powerful. To be clear: if a publisher, businessman has political aspirations, let him appear openly in the political arena. But not himself through proxies. So if they wish to appear, to be compared, to be judged and to be measured”, stressed the prime minister, sending a message to those who serve economic and business interests.

The opposition insists on the argument of the attempt to cover up responsibilities

The party’s proposal for the Parliament to agree to the formation of a preliminary committee against Mr. Karamanlis and then to refer the case to regular justice was repeated from the floor of the Parliament by Socrates Famous, citing questions about the resignations of the 2 government ministers: “Did they not succeed in their mission? Or did you not know that they went to the meeting with a big businessman? So the question is: do you know what is happening in Maximos or not? If you knew, you were responsible for the mission, if you didn’t know, you don’t know what the government is doing and you are dangerous as prime minister, Mr. Mitsotakis.” He launched a personal attack on the prime minister for Tempi, pointing out that “the tragic image of Kyriakos Mitsotakis is an insult to the memory of the victims of Tempi, to their relatives and to the Republic”.

“If you think that everything we say doesn’t touch you, your closest associates wouldn’t have resigned a while ago. Unfortunately for you Mr. Mitsotakis, things are exactly as we say, first the nephew then the one who took the place of the nephew and Mr. Papastavrou. The core of the corruption problem is the Maximos Palace and you know it well”, said Nikos Androulakis about the 2 resignations from the government scheme. Referring to the train accident in Tempe, he emphasized that PASOK expresses a “genuine anguish of the people who thirst for truth and justice”, adding that it will fight with “all the forces for truth and justice in the crime of Tempe”.

Three holidays in one hour

The start of the positions of the political leaders, however, was delayed to begin, as the Zoe Konstantopoulou of Plefsis Eleftherias who was the first speaker, pleaded that she was unable to attend the parliament before 18.00. She herself, during her position, tried to put the blame on the President of the Parliament, Mr. Tasoula, saying that he “decided to cut 60 speakers unilaterally without consulting any political leader”.

However, the New Left point out that while they were initially informed that Mr. Haritsis was scheduled to speak at 6:30 p.m., he was hastily invited to speak, due to the absence of Ms. Konstantopoulou.