Greek Parliament to Decide on Karamanlis Referral – Opposition Withdraws

The Greek Parliament is set to decide on the referral of former Transport Minister, Kostas Karamanlis, to the Special Court regarding the Tempi train accident. The vote will be secret.

Opposition parties are expected to withdraw from the process, denouncing the government. The session will begin at 9 a.m. with speeches and statements from political leaders.

New Democracy (ND) holds 154 seats, and any result below this number could trigger internal party reactions. The preliminary inquiry committee reached a defensive conclusion based on the study of the Tempi case file.

The report acknowledges that officials in their depositions stated they sent memos to the minister regarding underfunding and understaffing of OSE (Hellenic Railways Organisation) and concludes with the referral of Karamanlis stating that he failed to: a. define an adequate funding framework for the railway sector, b. ensure the allocation to OSE of public resources necessary for the maintenance, repair, expansion and renovation of the railway network and the correct preparation of the budget based on a multi-year Strategic Railway Investment Program.