Answering a question from the journalist, Mrs. Fais Mavragani, regarding the political responsibility for the accident in Tempi, Mr. Mitarakis noted that “the applause for Mr. Karamanlis referred to the point of his speech, in which he said that I am not covered by any parliamentary immunity, which is true. Mr. Karmanlis has no immunity for matters concerning Tempi. It is the competence of the Parliament under article 186 of the Constitution to prosecute, if it considers that there are sufficient indications that demonstrate criminal responsibility, any Minister for any matter referred to in their term of office. When we used to blame the law on the responsibility of ministers, because it had this very quick two-year statute of limitations, the revision of the Constitution made by Kyriakos Mitsotakis abolished this. Now the statute of limitations is the same that applies to all citizens at 15 or 20 years depending on the type of crime.”
Regarding the motion of no confidence in the accident, Mr. Mitarakis pointed out that “PASOK’s proposal in November 2023 for the establishment of a preliminary investigation committee was not about the accident, it was about the opposite. It concerned a finding by the European Prosecutor accusing the Ministry of prolonging and ultimately terminating the contract. There is an opinion that Mr. Karamanlis should have declared the company that had taken over the tender and not proceed with the completion of “717”. So we would not have it neither in September 2023 when the project was delivered, nor today, probably neither in 2025, nor in 2026. So when there were issues that needed to be resolved, the Government chose to end the tender. The conclusion of the European Prosecutor does not refer to the accident”.
When asked by the journalist, Mr. Yiannis Makrygianni about the letter from Tsalidis, managing director of ERGOSE, Mr. Mitarakis noted that “this letter, which was also in the context of a negotiation at the time with Hellenic Train, the Italians, on compensation issues , so he also had an issue on the negotiation. The whole process mobilized the Ministry of Transport, which ended the process”
“Whether the Greek railways should be closed in general, that is a decision that the Railway Regulatory Authority had to make. What I would do as a Minister was to make sure “the world is broken”, to finish pending projects. This is what the Ministry of Transport did and it ended,” Mr. Mitarakis emphasized.
Mr. Mitarakis asked a question to the SYRIZA Member of Parliament, Mr. Yiannis Sarakiotis and the PASOK MEP candidate, Mrs. Roza Vretto, asking them if the Ministry of Transport should finish the tender and operate “717” or should it have canceled it and start it all over again.
Addressing Mr. Sarakiotis on the responsibility of political figures, Mr. Mitarakis underlined that “when you submit a preliminary investigation request for these persons, with specific facts, let’s discuss it. So far you have not deposited. So the political figures are out, because there is no proposal to be in. In a rule of law you cannot imprison someone without charge, nor without a trial. I know that Mr. Polakis wanted for the previous four years to arrest all of them, all ten of Novartis, to lock them up somewhere so that you do better politically, but democracy does not work with people’s courts. Democracy works with courts, with evidence, with decisions.”
Regarding the resignations of the two ministers, Mr. Mitarakis noted that “the executives of New Democracy have proven in practice, and I myself, that when issues are raised, which can be interpreted as sending wrong messages, we have the political courage to submit the our resignations”.
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