Greek Gov't survives no-confidence motion

ATHENS: The Greek government survived on Thursday a no-confidence motion tabled by the opposition over the handling of a series of crises and challenges, including a deadly train accident with 57 fatalities last year.

A total of 159 Members of Parliament voted against the motion, while 141 deputies voted in favour in the 300-member strong plenary, said Xinhua.

On Tuesday, the opposition socialist Panhellenic Socialist Movement-Movement for Change (PASOK-KINAL) Party had tabled the motion, which was supported by other opposition parties, accusing the conservative government of a "cover-up," especially in the case of the train tragedy.

The party cited a media report published during last weekend, claiming that recordings of railways employees on the evening of a head-on collision between a freight train and a passenger train in central Greece, had been edited.

According to the motion, the distorted material was used to chalk the accident up as "human error" by railway officials rather than the fault of politicians who were responsible for the railway's chronic mismanagement, as families of the victims and opposition parties claim.

Addressing the plenary shortly before the roll-call vote, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose ruling conservative New Democracy Party enjoys a wide majority, strongly rejected the allegations.

"The independent justice system will rule on the case, and not political parties," he said.

The motion also accuses the government of failure to guarantee good living standards for Greek citizens, as well as decent wages to combat inflationary pressures.

The Greek prime minister responded that Greek economy is growing strongly, unemployment and inflation rates are decreasing and a new increase on minimum wage will be introduced soon.

-- BERNAMA