The train accident and the attack on the secretary of MeRA25 were among the topics covered in the interview of State Minister Akis Skertsov to Ant1 TV channel.

“Political Violence Never Provides Solutions”

In detail and starting from the incident of the attack, with the victim G. Varoufakis, the Minister of State emphasized that “this is an absolutely reprehensible incident, not a single area can be a den of lawlessness and violence. At this moment, we are re-experiencing, perhaps in miniature, the explosion of blind political violence that was directed against one of the most symbolic representatives of the anti-systemic vote yesterday. This shows how ineffective this tool is for expressing the rage, pain, anger, shock that we are all experiencing right now. Political violence has no place in a democracy and never provides solutions.”

However, he continued by pointing out that “we have experienced this in the most painful way in the last ten years. We were swept by a wave of denial, violence, anger, which threw the country very far back. Because for a very long time we refused to take on everything in the part that belongs to us, part of the small responsibility for the suffering of the country in the previous 12-13 years.

And in closing: “I think we have learned our lessons. Unfortunately, in previous years we have relied on anti-systemic voices. It seemed that these voices do not bring solutions to problems, they can express justified anger, but, unfortunately, they do not have the appropriate answers. Who has the answers? The one who acknowledges the problems, the one who takes responsibility, the one who commits to develop a coherent plan to change the situation. Responsibility is a very important factor in changing things, and they are not changed by those who throw stones from outside or decide to leave the country. Responsibility is taken by the one who decided to stay in the country, the one who knows the problems, who names them honestly, honestly, stands in front of them and says that he will change them.”

About the accident

Regarding the railway tragedy, the Minister of State first analyzed the government’s approach to this event: “Obviously, there is responsibility, now is not the time to point the finger at the past, regardless of whether the opposition or one side or the other is to blame. The duty to change the situation lies with the government, that’s what we say. But in such a stunning event, the truth is never clear or simple. There are responsibilities from top to bottom. And for the first time in such an accident, charges were brought against four persons who proved their involvement, their share of responsibility in this tragic incident.

On the other hand, “we put a lot of effort into an admittedly problematic organization that had discredited itself for years. Because of the cuts, because of the bad situation that existed even before the memos. We have tried to restructure to ensure that the projects will be implemented, that the processes that will make the railway more modern will be accelerated.”

Change of mentality in the Company – consolidation of responsibility

Referring specifically to the issue of human resources, the Minister of State stressed that “we all need to get serious about changing the mentality in the state and assigning responsibility to each employee individually and in administrations, of course, that manage human resources, in order to change the attitude towards the work they do. Each of us has a responsibility. If we don’t understand that the decisions we make from top to bottom of the management pyramid affect people’s lives, then we won’t change anything.”

As for the remote control-telesignaling and the famous contract, “there was a long-term involvement in this project. It ceased to be implemented in 2017, broke away in 2021. They brought it up to 18%, 17 out of 52 stations were commissioned. And of these 17, half had to be restored by decision of the previous government, because. incorrect specifications due to errors in tenders. These are eternal problems that we need to solve. It is currently 70% delivered and is only a few months away from final delivery. In a few months, Greece will be one of eight European countries that will have this remote control system. I understand that all this sounds unnecessary to people’s ears. People are lost and will not return,” he admitted.

And elsewhere in the interview, he pointed out that “the railway cannot stop, but it cannot work in the conditions in which it worked before the accident. The government and Mr. Gerapetritis undertook that by the end of March – the beginning of April the personnel, station chiefs, that is, additional security barriers for the opening of the railway, would be reinforced. The restoration of the railway transport project and the restoration of confidence in it are very important factors. The network must be secure again.”

And, from a purely political position, “this Greece does not express us, we are against this Greece. We must change this Greece. There are many other versions that give us pride and optimism. This image should not put us on the path of nihilism, that “nothing changes in our country.” In our country, everything is changing while we create a crisis of honesty and trust and willingness to change all these bad things,” he noted elsewhere in the interview.

And focusing on the younger generation, “Greece is an inhospitable country for its youth, it does not give the opportunities it should give the youth, it is often hostile as a state and public services towards citizens. We see that this is gradually changing.”

In addition, he acknowledged: “I recognize that at the moment there is a violation of the trust agreement, which should legally bind the political leadership to the citizens. Citizens really trust us to guarantee their safety, their freedom, their well-being, and we have a lot of work to do to heal this great wound.”

On the issue of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport’s resignation, he stated that “although self-evident, what Mr. Karamanlis did with his resignation on the same day is not a common occurrence on the political scene.” The least that should have been done was to take objective political responsibility for such a tragic accident. Let us first internalize this as an act of responsibility of the political system. Civil liability is different from criminal liability. If Mr. Karamanlis wants to be judged by the citizens, we must give him that right.”

He recalled that “the prime minister was the first to come out and say, ‘I take on all the responsibility that belongs to me, but I also take on the mission: to make a difference and bring you the best of Europe, Germany, the Commission, to finally build a modern railroad. I am committed to change the administration in order to finally do better administration and human resource management.” We must finally invest in the education of these people. What we see is a bunch of mistakes and bad decisions in human resource management. We failed there, we failed.”

To the request, in particular, that the former Minister of Transport A. Skertzos replied: “This is a discussion that was centrally answered by a representative of the government, and at this stage we have nothing more to add. We need to give time to pass and allow emotions to settle down. Rage and anger are a very bad adviser in making political decisions, because they can influence the course of a country in a completely wrong direction, as we have experienced in the last ten years. We lived in 2008 in a blind rage, we lived in 2010 and 2012 in a blind rage, we lived in 2015 in a blind rage. Did they take us further? They fixed us as a country? I think no. Instead, they delayed us and put us in a vicious cycle of falling behind. We must channel our positive energy into transforming negative emotions into positive actions. This is what the prime minister says, and we should keep his phrase: “I am a politician who sometimes succeeds and sometimes fails. And I tell you directly that I take responsibility for my mistakes and want to correct them together.

At this point, the Minister of State referred to the case of the untimely deceased Ermis Theocharopoulos, who died in Tzoumerka a year ago. His parents, Giannis and Maria Theocharopoulou, “came to the Prime Minister, we communicate every day and a few months ago passed a law on the establishment (throughout the territory) of six air rescue bases.” And he added: “No one is proud of this state, which has a bad reputation over time. We will be judged by our willingness to change that. Rejecting the appraisal does not change, because I see such demands on the streets to withdraw the appraisal law.”

Ultimately, “we are paying for not having the right person in the right position with the right training to run critical services.” At the same time, he specified that the head of the station, Larisa, “was not a bribe-taker, all legal procedures were followed, there was no age issue, there was no transfer, everything was according to the law. We need to get away from the letter of the law and move on to a real assessment of abilities.

PM calls for vulnerability analysis of critical infrastructure

At the same time, the Minister of State reported that “the Prime Minister has requested a vulnerability analysis in all critical infrastructures, as well as in coastal shipping, ports and regional airports.” He found “the demonization of privatization and the idealization of the role of the state at a time when we see that it is the state that bears a significant responsibility for the tragedy at Tempe. There is no black and white. Neither the private sector is good, nor the state itself is bad. We need better supervision, we need better education of people.” Finally, “we will have an estimate of where there are gaps, and there will be absolutely no flexibility in all those structures that will find gaps.”

On the issue of Sophia Nicolau, he concluded that “politics must restore its moral status in the eyes of the citizens. There’s a dirty war going on, a war of fake news – we’ve seen it these days, I have a list of at least 7-8 fake news that made the Tempe case far more toxic. They are very easy to dismantle, but the opposition also sells them. In this war, unfortunately, there are casualties. In order for politics to maintain its integrity, the shadow people must retreat. I’m not saying Ms. Nicolau has anything to apologize for, but we must defend the integrity of politics.”

MONKEY BEE