A finale with departures, tensions and serious political censures took place in the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on the Tempe tragedy. The next meeting was set for March 8, when the parties will be invited to submit their findings, according to the established tradition that each party wants to submit its own position on the subject under investigation. Thus, many commissions of inquiry in the past ended up at the same point: diametrically opposed views but also poor results in terms of deep and meaningful investigation of cases that occupied the political system and public opinion.
The question that comes and returns is finally how necessary and productive is the involvement of the Parliament in cases that are already being investigated by the Justice, beyond the part of the search for any criminal responsibilities of political figures that, based on the law on the responsibility of ministers, fall under the competence of the Parliament. Regarding the examination for Tempi, the question that remains to be answered is whether the parties that left – SYRIZA, PaSoK, Hellenic Solution, New Left, Spartans, but also the KKE – and which of them will participate in this process by submitting their own the conclusive reports.
What did the parties complain about?
The PASoK left this possibility open, as a refusal to “legitimize the cover-up methods on the part of the majority”, which, as the members of the party participating in the committee – Milena Apostolaki, Apostolos Panas and Giorgos Nikitiadis – led the work, complained when they left of the deadlocked committee. “We refuse to engage in methods of concealing the truth,” they said, denouncing the majority for refusing with its numerical superiority the subpoena of essential witnesses.
But SYRIZA, through Dionysis Kalamatianou, announced its decision not to participate “in this cover-up effort” as long as no additional witnesses are called under the responsibility of the majority. “The cover-up so far. We withdrew because there is neither a case file in which political figures are mentioned, nor are there any essential witnesses for the case, such as Mr. Triandopoulos, Mr. Tsalidis and Mr. Genidounias,” said SYRIZA rapporteur Vassilis Kokkalis, who was at the center of heavy fire. of ND for “highly anti-institutional behavior” as he read a document originating from the prosecutor of Larisa without it having properly reached the committee.
In the complaints about the hasty closing of the examination by the majority and the non-summoning of additional witnesses and after the withdrawals, the KKE also chose the way out with Nikos Karathanasopoulos declaring that “there is no point in our staying”.
“We had a series of revelations”
A point of friction was the parties’ request to send the testimony of the former Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Kostas Ach. Karamanlis to the competent prosecutor with the question of perjury, a claim rejected by the majority. Government sources responded to opposition complaints that 37 witnesses were examined in contrast to past investigations, attributing demagoguery, toxicity and political exploitation to the minority, while asserting that “we had not a cover-up, but a series of revelations” regarding the decisive importance of the human factor not only in the occurrence of the accident, but even in the operation of the systems.
As the last witness, the then Minister of Health Thanos Pleuris testified that he did not participate “in any meeting outside the hospital” and that he was not a member of the echelon under Christos Triandopoulos. As the witness said, “not only have I not taken part in any meeting on interventions in the field, but I was not even in discussions on the subject”.
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