Responding to accusations against judges regarding the Tempi train crash, Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis stated, “There is a smoldering civil war when Justice is undermined.”

“The claim that 5,000 judges are not doing their job properly is baseless. How can you bully the Supreme Court prosecutor, who has ordered that nothing remains hidden and instructed the investigator to examine every request that comes in?” Floridis said in an interview with SKAI radio. He stressed, “Justice is the refuge for all of us. If we undermine it, what remains? The streets and lynching.”

He also commented on statements by Androulakis and Famellos, who expressed their lack of trust in the judiciary, reiterating, “Then what remains?”

The minister further questioned, “What cover-up, when you already have 40 defendants? Can someone explain to me who the government supposedly wanted to protect? This is a vague accusation that preys on people’s emotions and provides fertile ground for any conspiracy theory to flourish.”

“The debate has derailed so much that we’ve almost forgotten that two trains collided because they were placed on the same track.”

He went on to emphasize, “We have a national tragedy. What should be the common stance of our entire society? That conditions must be created to uncover the truth and deliver justice. The first question: Who ensures this in an orderly state? Justice. But here, we see a fundamental contradiction, one that undermines democracy, where people say: ‘We don’t trust the Justice system.’ Why is this happening?”

Floridis also pointed out, “The discussion has gone so off track that we’ve almost forgotten that two trains collided because they were placed on the same track. Who is responsible for that? Who were the ones who put the trains on the same track?” He reminded, “For 150 years, we had a single-track railway without a train collision! And yet, in Tempi, we had a collision on a double-track system.”

“Some opposition parties want political outcomes to emerge from the Tempi trial—in other words, they want Mitsotakis’ government to fall. That is their right. Hence, all the talk about a cover-up,” Floridis added.

“However, those parties that want Mitsotakis to ‘fall’ should also present the team of officials who will govern. They don’t do that. They just want Mitsotakis gone. They aim to create political instability. If you can raise your hand and say, ‘I will be Prime Minister, and this will be the team governing the country,’ then go ahead and do it. But they don’t. We see this even from parties polling at 7%.”