ATHENS – As expected, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ New Democracy lawmakers defeated a ‘No Confidence’ vote brought by rival parties who said there was wrongdoing in the investigation into a train crash which killed 57 last year.

All of the Conservatives 158 members in the 300-seat Parliament rejected the measure, the voting coming after bitter debate on the floor which found Mitsotakis denying any cover-up although 77 percent of Greeks in a public opinion survey said there was.

Four left-wing opposition parties accused the government of hindering an investigation into the crash between a passenger and cargo train, many of them university students returning from Athens to Thessaloniki after a winter break.

The proposal was defeated by a 159-141 vote, with one member from the right-wing Spartiates going along with the New Democracy lawmakers after contentious wrangling over the causes, the tragedy still a hot topic.

Mitsotakis vowed to respect results of an ongoing judicial investigation, and denied any wrongdoing, although a parliamentary panel controlled by his party members said it was human error, which rivals found not plausible.

“There was no cover up,” he told lawmakers ahead of the vote. “What exactly has all this debate contributed to the investigation?” Despite its defeat, the no-confidence motion was a rare collaboration between Greece’s center-left and left-wing parties ahead of European Parliament elections in June.

Those are being seen as a litmus test whether the government is losing ground after easily winning June 2023 elections with almost 41 percent of the vote and the major opposition SYRIZA floundering.

The newspaper To Vima said audio tapes between a stationmaster charged in the crash and drivers of the trains, who were killed, had been tampered with in an apparent attempt to have human error blamed, absolving any politicians.

The government denied that, and Mitsotakis said the motion was “unacceptable” and “inappropriate” and said it was a “brutal attempt” by his opponents to capitalize politically on the tragedy, while rivals said he’s trying to hide what happened.

UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED

“They tried to turn grief into a party banner” Mitsotakis said of the opposition, although opponents called it a “crime” and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) said the government is trying to obstruct its investigation.

Safety measures hadn’t been implemented on the train system for 10 years but New Democracy’s then transport minister Kostas Karamanlis, who quit after the crash, blamed others and said he hadn’t had time to have the work done either, rejecting criticism.

It was the To Vima article – the newspaper owned by shipping oligarch Evangelos Marinakis, a foe of Mitsotakis – which led PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis to bring the No Confidence measure that was doomed to fail.

Mitsotakis said the allegations of tampering was old news and wrong and that it had been reported earlier by the state broadcaster ERT, and he said his government had no hand in doing anything allegedly wrong.

“It is legitimate for businesspeople and publishers to want to influence politics … some have been elected President, or Prime Minister … let them get into the arena themselves and not by proxy,” Mitsotakis said, referring to Marinakis.

He said that Androulakis – whose phone had been tapped earlier by the National Intelligence Agency (EYP) – knew about the article before it was published, although two New Democracy ministers resigned this week after reportedly having drinks with Marinakis.

Mitsotakis claimed the motion was the idea of far-right Greek Solution leader Kyriakos Velopouos “whose conspiracy theories you have adopted,” although the extremist party chief wasn’t present when the Premier was speaking.

Mitsotakis also talked about reports that the scene of the accident in Tempe was covered with gravel after the tragedy, bringing complaints of a literal cover-up, but he said it was the decision of rescue crews working to lift the train and get access to bodies crushed under it.

A petition signed by 1.3 million people demanded that immunity be stripped for ministers and lawmakers, including Karamanlis, who said he wasn’t “hiding” although another target, past SYRIZA transport chief Christos Spirtzis, asked for his protection to be lifted.

Mitsotakis said that the opposition can bring a proposal to try to indict Karamanlis on charges and that it would be up to Parliament – which his party controls – to agree to it, which would entail approving going after his own lawmaker.

(Material from the Associated Press was used in this report)