Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, he showed up yesterday Christos Staikouras to finish them. Because the minister in charge of transport, two years after the Tempe train tragedy, told us neither more nor less that he can’t even put his hand in the fire for train safety! In particular, you asked (Sky) “you can’t put your hand to the fire about whether illegal cargo is being smuggled on the trains, can you?” the Staikouras he replied “but who can put it?”. Referring to the preliminary investigation into the cargo of the fatal Intercity. Except the question he was asked was about today. “So whoever wants to do whatever they want, is that what you’re saying?” insisted the colleague. With him Staikura to answer “we are constantly trying to help transport safety”. Besides, he added, “absolute safety in transport does not exist anywhere in the world”. It’s just that maybe in other countries it’s not considered normal for ministers to say they don’t know if there’s smuggling on trains, at least not without presenting what they’re doing about it. Here, with such answers, one wonders why people doubt what happened at Tempe and whether the railroad is safe?
Why the optimism?
At one point in the interview, however, Staikouras he showed optimism. He said there is an action plan to improve rail safety that has been agreed with the Commission, which he says has made “satisfactory progress”. I don’t know where this optimism comes from. As we have already written to you in “NEWS” (with the last relevant report in yesterday’s paper), Greece is threatened with a referral to the European Court, with the Commission having already initiated an infringement procedure because it did not align with the requirements of the EU legislation on railway safety. The Commission has sent a warning letter since December, following a report by the European Railway Organization, which lists long-term, systemic deficiencies that “also result from the lack of a safety mentality” within the organizations concerned. I, in the position of the minister, who has had this responsibility for a year and a half now, would not boast.
The legal road to email-gate
The first twelve lawsuits filed by expatriate voters against the former MEP Annas – Michel Asimakopoulou were discussed yesterday before the Court of First Instance of Athens. A total of 193 lawsuits have been filed against her Asimakopoulouwith the plaintiffs claiming damages of 20,000 euros each. The foreign witnesses, in a categorical manner, assured the president of the court that they never gave their consent for the use of their electronic address by any political person. “We have experienced terrible insecurity”, “my confidence in the electoral process has been shaken”, “I am still worried because I do not know where this file has gone” were some of their indicative statements.
In the Council of Ministers
Asimakopoulou
On the other hand, on her behalf Asimakopoulou no witnesses were examined and the court reserved its verdict. Meanwhile, next week the appeal of the former MEP is being discussed in the Plenary Session of the Council of State in which she requests the annulment of the fine of 40,000 euros imposed on her by the Personal Data Protection Authority.
The rockets and
the question marks
There is not yet, formally, an agreement to supply Turkey with Meteor missiles, my source told me yesterday, adding that indeed a negotiation is underway with the consent of the manufacturer countries of the consortium, with Britain as the selling country and France agreeing. Missiles are bundled with Eurofighters, so Turkey’s pursuit is a package deal. The above may explain his remark Kyriakou Mitsotakis about his “precautionary” protest Nikos Dendias to the French ambassador Laurence Auersince Athens knows that the discussion between Britain, France and Turkey has been open for at least a month. Of course, it raised questions that the Prime Minister seemed to distance himself from the movement Dendiaalthough the minister had announced earlier that it was done after consultation between them. What is certain is that he himself will seek Mitsotakis to communicate his concerns competently, possibly during his next visit to Paris, on February 10, at the Artificial Intelligence Summit organized by Emmanuel Macron.
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