Yesterday, without the consent of the opposition parties, the creation of a commission of experts was announced, which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked Giorgos Gerapetritis to create immediately after taking office at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

On the part of SYRIZA, as was clear from yesterday’s statement in which they demand concrete answers from the government and personally from Mr. Mitsotakis, they will never agree to a committee headed by the Prime Minister’s closest associate and Minister of State, Giorgos Gerapetritis. . In the official opposition party, they noted that “the person being audited cannot be an auditor at the same time” and described “Mr. Mitsotakis’s pre-investigation research into human error” as a precursor. SYRIZA has criticized the government, saying “if he wanted to set up a cross-party committee, he could solicit proposals from all parties” and the prime minister wants “a comfortable pre-election opinion that will confirm the verdict he has already delivered.” The announcement concludes that the causes “will not be investigated by committees appointed by the auditees, but by the competent authorities.”

For its part, PASOK also refused to enter into a discussion about the composition of the commission for two reasons: first, according to Har. Trikoupi, by his statement, the prime minister has already concluded that this is a human error and, secondly, the committee is characterized as supra-party, not inter-party, so there is no point in interfering.

The Commission may call on technical specialists, experts, or any other persons it deems necessary, and must complete its work before the end of the month.

Trinomial

The government, as expected, yesterday announced the formation of a special committee to “investigate and identify systemic problems and malfunctions that led to the tragedy of the Tempe train.” The Committee is composed of three members, including Ioannis-Konstantinos Chalkias, Honorary President of the State Legal Council, as Chairman, Athanasios Ziliascopoulos, Professor of Transport and Manufacturing at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Thessaly, as a member, and Vassilios Profilelidis. , professor of transport engineering at the Thracian University of Democritus, as a member. As noted by government sources and wrote yesterday to “K”, the committee will carry out its work in the shortest possible time “and call for assistance from technical specialists, experts or any other persons who deem it necessary.” “As soon as possible,” according to government sources, means “within a month,” as the scale of the tragedy leaves no room for delay.

Elections

At the same time, the election timing debate will come to the fore next week, as if the Prime Minister decides that the elections will take place on April 9, he will have to announce them no later than March 19, which is two weeks from today. As K wrote yesterday, a decision will not be made until the middle of the week, but after the last burial of the deceased citizen has taken place.

Members of the committee of three

The new Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation, Giorgos Gerapetritis, has elected three prominent figures in public life to a special commission that is investigating the causes of the Tempi accident. This is Ioannis-Konstantinos Chalkias, Honorary President of the State Legal Council, as President, and the members are Athanasios Ziliascopoulos, President of the Board of Directors of TAIPED, and Vassilios Profillides, Professor at the Thracian University of Democritus.

Mr. Halkias graduated from the Faculty of Law of Athens and in 1980 received a Master’s degree in Public and Administrative Law from the University of Paris II. In 1983, he was appointed as a judicial representative in the State Legal Council, in 1993 he was promoted to the position of paredros, in 2006 – legal adviser, and in 2014 – vice president of NSK. From 1983 to 2018 he worked as a legal adviser in the Ministries of Justice (1983-1989), Labor (1983-1985), Finance (1989-1990), Foreign Affairs (1990-1994), Rural Development (1994). -2015). In 2015-2018 Head of the Department of Legal Counsel of the Ministry of National Defence. In 2018, he was appointed President of the State Legal Council.

Athanasios Ziliascopoulos is an alumnus of AUTH’s Department of Chemical Engineering and holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial Mechanics from the University of Austin, Texas, USA, and a PhD in Transportation Systems from the same university. He began his academic career in the Department of Civil Engineering at The Ohio State University, USA, then worked in the Department of Civil Engineering at Northwestern University, USA, and at the Center for Transportation Studies. From 1996 to 2004, he served as the Louis Berger Professor in Transportation Systems at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA. Since 2004 he has been a professor of production and transport at the University of Thessaly. Between 2010 and 2015, he was the President and CEO of TRAINOSE. Also in 2013-2015 he was a member and then president of the National Committee for Logistics (in 2014). In 2020, he was appointed President of the National Council for the Development and Competitiveness of Logistics, and today is the President of the Board of TAIPED.

Finally, Vassilios Profillidis is a civil engineer at the University of Athens, a transport expert (DEA), a doctorate from the National School of Bridges and Highways, and a graduate of the University of Athens Law School. He was a partner of the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Public Works, OSE, Municipality of Thessaloniki, French Railways. Today he is a professor at DPTH, where he has been teaching since 1990. “Every possible effort will be made to understand what happened. We must shed light on all aspects of the accident and exhaust all the limits of our scientific possibilities,” he told kathimerini.gr.