Greek Justice Minister George Floridis has insisted that his controversial past statements regarding opposition politicians and earthwork allegations at the Tempi train crash site remain completely justified. Speaking on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, on the radio station Parapolitika 90.1, Floridis addressed the political fallout following the referral of former deputy minister Christos Triantopoulos to the Special Court one day earlier.
Floridis rejected calls for his own resignation from opposition leaders, arguing that political debate surrounding the disaster must be separated from the ongoing judicial proceedings. He asserted that while the referral of Triantopoulos involves actions at the accident scene that could potentially have led to a loss of evidence, no evidence was actually lost during the investigation.
The dispute stems from the Tempi train crash, the deadliest rail disaster in Greek history. The collision occurred in February 2023 in the Tempi Valley of central Greece when a passenger train crashed head-on into a freight train. The disaster claimed 57 lives, injured dozens more, and sparked nationwide protests over railway safety, state negligence, and alleged government attempts to cover up the causes of the accident.
Revisiting his previous statement made in the Greek Parliament that politicians who speak of a site infill or cover-up are useless, Floridis declared that it remains the most justified phrase he has spoken. He said his comments had been taken out of context by critics, emphasizing that his words were directed exclusively at political figures rather than victims' families. He recalled a parliamentary exchange in which Kyriakos Velopoulos, leader of the Greek Solution party, stood up to say that Floridis had been referring directly to him.
Allegations of a Political Conspiracy
The justice minister launched a sharp political counterattack, characterizing the broader narrative of a site infill or earthwork cover-up as part of a conspiracy manufactured by opposition parties and outside forces. He stated that the political opposition had attempted to frame the government for a cover-up by combining several distinct claims.
According to Floridis, this opposition narrative was constructed around allegations involving missing passengers, lost train carriages, the presence of chemical solvents such as xylene, illicit fuel smuggling, and deliberate ground tampering. He argued that this conspiracy led millions of Greek citizens to take to the streets under the belief that hidden motives lay behind the tragedy.
The referral of former deputy minister Triantopoulos to the Special Court represents a rare constitutional proceeding in Greece. The Special Court, known as Eidiko Dikastirio, is an ad hoc tribunal established under the Greek Constitution specifically to hear criminal charges brought against current or former government ministers for acts performed in their official capacity. Prosecution before the court requires a formal vote by the Greek Parliament.
Judicial Findings and the Referral
Floridis drew a distinction between the political conflict surrounding the crash site works and the specific matters under judicial evaluation. He explained that the referral of Triantopoulos was based on a hypothetical premise that site alterations might have caused evidence to be lost. However, he maintained that the formal judicial investigation proved no evidence was lost.
The justice minister emphasized that all available material was turned over to investigating authorities, evaluated thoroughly, and incorporated into a court case involving 35 defendants. He stressed that questioning whether site works followed proper technical protocols is a separate matter from accusing the government of altering the site to conceal wrongdoing.
Addressing allegations that illegal fuel cargo was being transported on the train, Floridis stated that the matter was investigated by the European Public Prosecutor's Office. The European body concluded that no illegal cargo was present on the train and subsequently archived the case. The European Public Prosecutor's Office is an independent European Union body tasked with investigating and prosecuting financial crimes and serious cross-border offenses affecting the EU.
Floridis explained that the earthworks at the Tempi site were undertaken for practical operational reasons. He said ground soil had been turned into heavy mud by water sprayed by the fire department during emergency operations. Removing the mud was necessary to allow heavy cranes to access the area, lift destroyed rail carriages, and enable search teams to continue recovering victims.
Response to Resignation Demands
Floridis responded directly to Alexis Tsipras, president of ELAS and former prime minister, who had demanded that Floridis either resign or be dismissed by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Floridis questioned why he should resign for making a statement that he considered entirely vindicated.
Attacking Tsipras, Floridis asserted that the opposition could not forgive him for fighting hard in the political arena to expose what he called a conspiracy and a deception. He brought up the 2018 Mati wildfire tragedy, noting that 104 people died while Tsipras was prime minister. Floridis accused Tsipras of putting on a public display during the emergency by asking when firefighting aircraft would launch, without ever considering resigning or dismissing any cabinet minister at the time.
The Mati wildfire occurred in July 2018 along the coastal region of Attica near Athens, becoming one of the deadliest wildfires in modern European history. The disaster led to widespread condemnation of the government's emergency response, emergency evacuation failures, and public handling of the death toll. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis later took office in 2019 following elections in which disaster management and public safety were major campaign issues.
Floridis concluded by repeating that a clear gap exists between political accusations and judicial determinations. He stated that the Greek judicial system will ultimately decide whether the site operations following the Tempi crash were executed properly under the law.
