Romanos: Target of the censure motion is to hurt the government, not reach the truth about Tempi

The opposition parties behind the censure motion against the government "have no interest in either the pain of the families of the Tempi accident victims, nor in revealing what led to the fatal accident," the press spokesperson for the ruling New Democracy party, Nikos Romanos, asserted on Thursday. According to Romanos, they were solely interested in toppling the New Democracy government as they were unable to contend with it politically.

Citing statements by main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance MP Nikos Pappas on Wednesday regarding the decision to jointly table the four-party censure motion with PASOK-KINAL, Romanos said they revealed that "the agreement between PASOK and SYRIZA on the censure motion preceded the article which [PASOK leader] Nikos Androulakis presented on Sunday as its cause. Based on Pappas' revelation, the two parties 'cut a deal' between themselves, with full knowledge of the article's contents before its publication."

Their true aims were apparent in the instrumentalisation of the tragedy at Tempi in public, and the "deals" cut behind-the-scenes, as revealed by Pappas' statements, he added.