Euractiv analyzes in a long report the persistence and targeting of the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis to assume main political roles in the transport sector of the European Union.
The Greek government wants to secure the transport portfolio to the incoming European Commission of the EU, according to sources from Athens and Brussels, the report writes.
Last month, Greek MEP Eliza VosenbergKYRI, from the New Democracy (EPP), was elected chair of the European Parliament’s TRAN transport committee.
While Greece was rumored to be vying for the enlargement portfolio in the new Commission, Mitsotakis is placing Apostolos Tzitzikostas, currently regional governor of the Greek region of Central Macedonia, as his candidate for commissioner.
Read about it: The choice of Mitsotakis with Tzitzikostas is an indication of Greece’s right turn – Politico’s analysis
Why the transport portfolio?
Politically, the Greek government may be interested in the transport portfolio because of a train accident in 2023 that killed 57 people – mostly young people – in Tempe, which had a heavy political impact at home, Euractiv continues.
The judicial investigation into those responsible for the Tempi accident is proceeding at a slow pace, with the parents of the victims and the Greek opposition claiming that the government is trying to cover up possible political responsibility.
The matter attracted the attention of the EU Prosecutor General Laura Kovesi, who had – before the accident – launched an investigation into a contract signed in 2014 to rebuild and upgrade the signaling and remote control system in Greek trains.
Kovesi has said that Greek authorities are standing in the way of “finding the truth and applying justice” and last year he sent a letter to the European Commission saying that the provision in Greece’s constitution that gives ministers immunity should be changed.
For its part, the Greek government reacted by saying that Kovesi exceeded the limit of her powers.
Convention 717
The investigation revealed that the ‘717 convention’ had never been implemented, with experts arguing that the accident could have been avoided if a modern signaling system had been in place.
In addition, the Commission “recognized” the lack of a permanent and independent rail accident investigation body in Greece from 2019 as a breach of EU law, although no action was taken.
The overall rail accident case was also brought before the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions in March 2023, when a hearing was held with the victims’ parents.
The political groups in the Committee on Petitions unanimously decided to keep the case open and closely monitor developments in the next term. This decision, however, did not prevent New Democracy from appointing another MEP, Freddy Belleri, as vice-president of this committee.
Unanswered questions about the Tempe accident and Greece’s poor rail infrastructure may put Tzitzikostas in a politically awkward position.
Some may raise doubts about whether Greece can handle EU-level transport, as, when it comes to trains, the country has not done its part despite receiving EU funding to modernize its railways.
Commenting on the election of Eliza Vosenberg to the presidency of the transport commission, the representative of the families of the victims, Maria Karystianou, said on Wednesday that “”after the deadliest rail accident in Europe, after the biggest cover-up scandal, the culprits themselves take over the relevant transport portfolio.”
Read about it: “We’ve squeezed them in for good”: Post – post by Maria Karystianou
Furthermore, the case of Tempes and the state of justice are related to a wider and ongoing debate on the rule of law in Greece.
In the previous term of the European Parliament, the Socialists, Greens, Liberals and the EU Left formed a majority to pressure the Commission to assess Greece under the Rule of Law Conditions Regulation. This was adopted as a resolution by the European Parliament in February 2023.
However, in the new Parliament, these progressive groups do not have a sufficient majority to repeat it. According to Euractiv sources, the Greek opposition party SYRIZA and the Left group of the European Parliament plan to put strong pressure on Tzitzikostas during the pending hearing, especially on the Tempi case.
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