Mitsotakis Returns to Athens Facing Dual Political Crisis

Panos Ruci’s hunger onslaught successful Syntagma Square for the Tempi catastrophe is gaining enactment from galore Greeks. Credit: AMNA/Orestis Panagiotou

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis returned to the home governmental country pursuing a week of intensive planetary engagements astatine the UN General Assembly successful New York. His instrumentality is overshadowed by a double-barreled situation that threatens to interaction the government’s standing: the ongoing fallout from the Tempi obstruction calamity and a burgeoning ungraded implicit the OPEKEPE cultivation payments organization.

The planetary limb of his travel was already marked by hostility aft the high-profile, pre-scheduled gathering with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan was canceled, further straining Greek-Turkish relations.

The Tempi tragedy: judicial decisions and governmental exploitation

The authorities is presently navigating a sensitive, high-profile situation related to the Tempi accident, brought to the forefront by Panos Ruci’s hunger strike successful Syntagma Square. Ruci is demanding the exhumation of his precocious lad for individuality confirmation and autarkic toxicological analysis.

Demonstrations were held connected Sunday crossed Greece successful enactment of Ruci, who has been connected a 15-day hunger onslaught successful beforehand of the Parliament, demanding the exhumation of his lad Denis to clarify the origin of death.

On Friday, judicial authorities approved Denis’ exhumation, but lone for recognition purposes. Ruci rejected the constricted scope of the decision. “I judge nary of this. They proceed to mock us. I americium here, and I proceed the conflict to the end.”

A petition signed by 78 Tempe victims’ relatives asked that Denis Ruci’s assemblage besides acquisition toxicological and histological tests. Authorities granted lone identification.

Three different families person besides petitioned for exhumations of their children mislaid successful the 2023 crash, 1 of Greece’s deadliest obstruction accidents.

Mitsotakis is walking a good line: offering empathy for the grieving begetter portion upholding the organization independency of the judiciary.

In his established Sunday societal media post, Mitsotakis stressed the request for the authorities to “stand sensitively adjacent to radical who are successful pain.” However, helium made it wide that the authorities respects the judiciary’s decisions and warned against actions that could hold the trial, noting that “perpetual delays could adjacent pb to statutes of limitations for offenses.”

The prevailing presumption among authorities officials is that absorption parties are seeking to exploit the relatives’ symptom for governmental gain, aiming to forestall the commencement of the judicial proceedings.

Mitsotakis faces a situation implicit the workplace ungraded investigation

The 2nd beforehand concerns the probe into the OPEKEPE enactment (responsible for EU cultivation subsidies). The authorities anticipates the absorption volition importantly escalate its efforts, demanding the summoning of applicable authorities officials to an investigative committee.

The contented is fueling nationalist suspicion regarding accountability, arsenic reflected successful caller sentiment polls. While the contention is simply a large taxable among New Democracy (ND) MPs who study nonstop unit from their constituents, the authorities insists determination is nary grounds to substantiate the opposition’s allegations.