With the government under continuing pressure over the Tempi case, Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be in Parliament today, in a peculiar session in which political leaders will make their opening statements on the pre-agenda debate, followed by the motion of no-confidence announced by PASOK and will also be supported by SYRIZA, New Left and Plefsi Eleftherias.

Mitsotakis is expected to make his mark in his first extensive intervention since the big rallies last Friday, which were a break in time and are expected to produce a political result. According to associates, in his statement the prime minister will deconstruct a number of fake news that have been heard throughout the public debate over the past period, many of which are now taken for granted. He will also deconstruct the cover-up narrative, while attacking the opposition parties for trying to instrumentalize the case.

This was yesterday and the thrust of State Minister Makis Voridis’s intervention at the conclusion of the debate on the establishment of a Pre-Investigation Committee for the now former deputy minister Christos Triandopoulos, with Mr. Voridis developing a legal rationale on the basis of which the government substantially disagrees with the impeachment proposal submitted by PASOK.

However, Mitsotakis is not expected to be consumed only with attacks on the opposition, acknowledging that the message of the rallies is primarily about the functioning of the government. In the spirit of his Sunday Facebook post, therefore, the prime minister will stick to his commitments to safe trains by 2027, admitting the pathologies that have been perpetuated.

His intervention, however, will be driven by how the “never again” that sounds like an obvious slogan will be put into practice. Notably, the government through Pavlos Marinakis yesterday denied the scenarios of the railway’s shutdown, making it clear that its restructuring will take place while the railway is in operation. Already, a difficult exercise that Maximou is called upon to solve immediately is the staffing of the newly created Hellenic Railways, the successor to the OSE.

The troubled MPs and the reshuffle

In the “blue” wells that were set up in the corridors and the House of Representatives’ briefing room on the sidelines of yesterday’s debate on the pre-investigation, however, the concern about the government’s course was evident, with many MPs discussing the policy initiatives that can be taken from here on, but also the timing and scope of the gestating reformation.

As for the prime minister’s initiatives, it is now considered certain that there will be a deputy transport minister portfolio in the infrastructure ministry, with a direct report to the prime minister’s office and an enhanced “bouquet” of responsibilities along the lines of the Olympics. Beyond that, Mitsotakis is called upon to decide whether to further strengthen Maximou by adding elements of politicization, especially in terms of strategic planning.

From there, the necessity of interventions in the governmental structure is now unavoidable, given that many ministers have “put down their pencils”, waiting for the prime minister’s decisions. Yesterday, meanwhile, the secretary general of Civil Protection Vassilis Papageorgiou, who is being prosecuted in the same context as Christos Triantaopoulos, was also removed by…resignation.

In any case, the countdown to the reshuffle has already begun, given that Mitsotakis himself has made some contacts. Many believe that the changes will also hold surprises, although Mitsotakis’ reshuffles do not always match the scope of the initial thoughts.

The “losers” of the changes in the government’s shape, however, will be the MPs who will participate in the composition of the Pre-Investigation Committee for Mr. Triandopoulos, as they are not expected to be used this time.