The time for decisions appears to have come for the government regarding the Deputy President of EODASAAM, Christos Papadimitriou, especially following his hasty retreat yesterday concerning the involvement of expert Kostas Lakafosis in the agency’s report, as well as his comments on the fireball phenomenon.

For days now, Mr. Papadimitriou has been presenting a series of conflicting positions, while he himself seems to be going through a difficult phase of internal balance, telling close contacts that he has come under intense pressure from ERA’s number 2, Bart Accu. However, Mr. Papadimitriou’s stance has left the government clearly uneasy. Until now, the government has consciously avoided interfering in EODASAAM‘s internal affairs so as not to appear meddlesome. Nevertheless, since the Deputy President had, up until yesterday, shown no willingness to resign, the government is now being forced to weigh its options.

Mr. Papadimitriou was appointed to the position during the tenure of former Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christos Staikouras, who also chose a “neutral” approach toward the organization, refusing to be briefed in advance about the report’s findings and only ensuring the necessary operational funding when requested.

Privately, government officials admit that Mr. Papadimitriou’s stance has sown confusion among the public and has created a “trust gap” between the organization and the victims’ families, as well as the general public. Needless to say, there is strong discontent in senior government ranks over his recent behavior, his repeated media appearances, and the confrontation he initiated with ERA in an effort to defend himself.

Mr. Papadimitriou continues to insist on the need for further investigation into the causes of the fireball and is reaching out to Demokritos and other universities. However, it remains doubtful whether he will have time to complete these contacts.
Back and Forth

It is worth noting that yesterday, during a meeting of the Board of Directors, Mr. Papadimitriou appeared to backtrack on his earlier statements regarding Kostas Lakafosis’ role in the matter, informing the Board that he had received a letter from the expert.

In this letter, Mr. Lakafosis informs Mr. Papadimitriou that he had received an email as early as the end of January regarding EDAPO’s (of which Lakafosis is a member) participation in Ghent University’s research into the fireball. As stated, Mr. Papadimitriou was not the primary recipient of the message, but it had been forwarded to him. However, Mr. Papadimitriou made the rather unbelievable claim that he never saw the email.

The situation deteriorated further regarding the controversial fireball. Yesterday, Mr. Papadimitriou made a full retreat, whereas the day before he had told the media at EODASAAM’s offices that the part of the report concerning the fireball would be withdrawn for further investigation.

“The EODASAAM report is a documentation and listing of all the errors that led to the collision, not an investigation into the fireball. The Board expresses its support for the report and the excellent work of the investigation team, and emphasizes that the assessment that silicone oils did not contribute to the creation of the fireball is based on the confirmation provided by Professor Konstantopoulos of Aristotle University and, of course, remains unchanged,”

reads the minutes of today’s meeting. In other words, EODASAAM returns to its original position — the same one that Mr. Papadimitriou had challenged.

Furthermore, according to Mr. Papadimitriou’s update, the Board of EODASAAM “in no way suggests that the assessment included in the report was incorrect, but as the committee itself had requested, it must be immediately confirmed and certified. Once that is done, the relevant section of the report will be updated with fully verified results and assessments from top academic institutions.”