After Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ triple order “low tones, self-criticism, presentation of facts” to his officials, which he warned that… he is monitoring whether or not they are hiding from the public debate about the Tempi tragedy, the government is trying to speed up with a three-point strategy.

The first concerns the institutional processes and the “programmatic discourse”, as this is where the burden falls on the railway. The second is the need for the government to quickly achieve a multi-thematic dialogue (economy, foreign policy, etc.), expecting that “deeds” of governance will not be lost.

The third has to do with the review of dilemmas and more broadly of the government’s narrative for the four years 2023-2027, as the radical reformation of state functions is prescribed as a central commitment.

The government, hastening to strengthen its rhetoric, intends to include the dilemma of “who can” overthrow the “dark state” – according to the prime minister’s words – “of anachronism” in the main axes of commitments decided by Mitsotakis (new NSY, better salaries etc.).

“Restart”

The next 10 weeks, a period of 70 days in other words (if the dominant scenario for polls on May 21 with a second electoral contest on July 2 is confirmed) will judge the attempted “restart”. The new timetable initially foresees the closure of the Parliament for Easter on April 7, while its dissolution and the announcement of elections are determined in the last ten days of April. In the scenario of shifting the horizon by a week, to May 28, as some are holding open, polls would be delayed by only a few days.

As far as the “answers” to the tragedy are concerned, the government wants to show that it is moving in consultation and institutionally. After the announcement of support measures for the families of the victims and injured, with letters to parties and Parliament, the Minister of State, interim Minister of Infrastructure until the elections, Giorgos Gerapetritis declared himself available for detailed information, while the invitation to fill the positions of head of OSE  and ERGOSE is awaited, as are the findings from the three-member Committee of Experts and the European Railway Agency (ERA). “Speak with empathy, without offsets, with the aim of clarification” was the Prime Minister’s directive, given New Democracy’s wager to effectively convey its message to the moderate voters who – according to polls – appear at a mental distance from the ruling party.

With an eye on opinion polls

The government is turning its attention to the readings that will run from now on, as the trends will crystallize, hoping for a recovery, even a balance, but not a further decline in rates. In this context, a project continuation order was given. In addition to the initiatives that would definitely be voted as prerequisites of the Recovery Fund, he came out of the “cellar” drawer of bills – those that were essentially dependent on election time. After the passing of the initiative for the administrative courts, the bills of the Ministries of Health, Education, Energy immediately follow, while the initiatives of the Infrastructure and Immigration are pending, interventions will be promoted on the occasion of the tragedy (such as the tightening of the framework for the obstruction of transport in all that concerns the railway) and pending the Finance bill – sweeper with all the recent announcements.

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