Once again, the government faces the momentum of the Tempi tragedy as citizens appear to be demanding answers en masse for the loss of 57 people. In the aftermathof the large rallies around Greece and abroad on Sunday, Kyriakos Mitsotakis is once again called upon to step forward and bear the burden of the government’s communication response.

The start will be made this afternoon with the interview he will give on Alpha’s main newscast, while tomorrow’s Conference of the Speakers of Parliament is expected to be set for next week or the week after the pre-agenda debate on the tragedy requested by opposition parties.

The volume of the mobilizations and the intensity of the protest may have taken some Maximos’ staffers by surprise. In any case, the tragedy of Thebesstill serves as a battering ram for the government, which also had an extremely difficult March last year, right after the first anniversary of the tragedy. This year, too, Maximou’s Mansion enters crisis management mode as society continues to ask questions.

The NTUA report

The prime minister is also expected to stress in his appearance on Alpha today that the government is not covering up and is also seeking answers to the questions raised by the tragedy. Hence he is awaiting the report of EMP, with Professor Dmitris Karoni having been asked to “bridge” the difference in estimates between the first Fire Department report and findings of technical advisers to families that followed.

The “snuffbox” refers to the “fireball” created by the freight train after it collided with the passenger train. “One who wants to cover up would go to a third conclusion?”, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis asked yesterday (SKAI).

Information says, however, that the result of the NTF is not expected to fully converge with the first conclusion of the Fire Department, although it will hardly determine the exact origin of the fire. Notably, yesterday Adonis Georgiades (Parapolitika 90.1) asked about the statement Mitsotakis in his first interview after Tempi (Protagonists, Alpha) about “silicone oils” causing the fire, he replied that “the belief that the prime minister had at the time and what the documents said is that there was no such thing, but that remains to be proven in court”.

Public figures

A report by Marinakis yesterday, however, sparked debate. “Has the judiciary stumbled on a politician’s name, sent it to Parliament for criminal charges, and has Parliament or ND or the government covered something up? No is the answer. If that happens, will we cover up, will we say no? Not, we will tell the judiciary what is provided for. That is, if someone has potential criminal responsibility or their name is found in the case file, then we will directly facilitate Justice,” the government spokesman stressed. Government sources responded that to raise the issue of setting up an Investigation Commission, the judiciary or at least the opposition would have to make a specific accusation against a specific political person, which, according to the same assessment, has not happened so far. In this case, too, however, a crucial milestone will be the report of the NPM, which will constitute the completion of a key outstanding issue in the context of the inquiry.

However, Mitsotakis is expected to separate the families of the victims and the citizens who are seeking answers from the opposition parties that are trying to find common ground with the government through the Tempi case, speaking of an attempt to exploit a tragedy politically.