Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis denied once again accusations by Greek opposition parties claiming there had been a cover-up of the Tempi train crash in an interview on Thursday with Greek TV station Ant-1 which touched upon a wide range of topics.
“What are we supposed to have covered up?”, he wondered, referring to the Tempi train crash, adding that he had still not got an answer to that question. “That supposedly the train was carrying timber and explosives, and we rushed there at the time of the accident? I know very well that there was no cover-up. At the moment I was called upon to manage the greatest tragedy one could imagine, that night, what exactly should our minds have been on? Something we later learned without any doubt that essentially human error with chronic pathologies of public administration was encountered in Tempi, something I never concealed.”
Domestic Violence
Mitsotakis expressed his full support to incumbent Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis in the wake of the murder of a woman outside a police station in Athens last week stressing that any failure in the state apparatus did not mean that the political leadership was always responsible. “No, I am very clear and explicit about this because if every time something goes wrong in the state, and the top was always to blame, we would have resignations every week of the month.” He added that his government had done many things to combat domestic violence including specialized training for law enforcement officers.
School Bullying
Commenting on the issue of bullying at school, the Greek Premier emphasized that society must “give children who are experiencing bullying the opportunity to make a complaint and know that they will do so safely, discreetly, and that the incident will be genuinely addressed”, which is what the goal of platform introduced aimed to address. “Obviously, the initiative against bullying is not exhausted in the platform alone, but children need to speak up.”
The Prime Minister highlighted that “there is now a much stronger preventive presence of the police in areas where teenagers gather and where issues have arisen in the past.”
Tempi Crash Audio File
When asked about whether there was any tampering with the audio recordings from the tragic night of the Tempi train crash, the Greek PM stated: “I don’t know if it’s true. And the justice system should prove it if it is. It might be, but I don’t know. What I do know is that the material in its entirety reached justice, and that is not in question. All the audio conversations are in the hands of the justice. And how they were leaked to the media, what happened afterward with the media, there was no government involvement in this under any circumstances.”
Economy – Inflation
On the Greek economy and the battle against the high cost of living and inflation, the Prime Minister emphasized that “there is no doubt that the Greek economy has made significant progress, adding that he acknowledged that there is a substantial problem with the income. “It has more to do with supermarkets and even more focused on food inflation, which reduces the purchasing power of Greeks and available income. This is a reality we cannot dispute. It is not only confirmed by official data. It is confirmed by every citizen who goes to the supermarket.”
“The intervention we made in the market has resulted in a significant decrease in electricity prices, eliminating the need to subsidize bills further, as we did two years ago at great cost to the state budget, and gradually returning to prices before 2021. So undoubtedly, there has been very significant progress there.”
Greek-Turkish Relations
On the Greek-Turkish relations and the prospect of a visit on May 13 to Turkey, Mitsotakis emphasized: “There has been significant progress in easing relations. We have not had violations for 12 months. That is a success. The flow of migrants to the islands of the Eastern Aegean has been limited. Without conceding a single step on our longstanding positions.” He added that Greece has nothing to fear from discussions with Turkey about its sovereign rights.
