Four opposition parties – SYRIZA, PASOK–KINAL, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the New Left – have withdrawn from the parliamentary pre-investigation committee on the Tempe rail disaster, accusing the government of orchestrating a cover-up to shield former transport minister Costas Ach. Karamanlis from accountability.

The walkout followed the committee’s decision to approve Karamanlis’s request for direct referral to the Judicial Council without completing a full investigation. Karamanlis had responded to the committee with a brief written note—just 72 words in length—denying wrongdoing and asking that the matter bypass parliamentary scrutiny entirely.

Opposition parties condemned the move as a “constitutional deviation” and a deliberate obstruction of parliamentary oversight in a case that concerns one of the deadliest train disasters in Greek history.

SYRIZA’s rapporteur, Theofilos Xanthopoulos, said the former minister was asking MPs to “ignore the Constitution and our conscience.” Giorgos Papailiou added that the process violated the Constitution, the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament and the Code of Criminal Procedure.

PASOK–KINAL described Parliament as a “laundromat” for political responsibility. MP Evangelia Liakouli characterised the outcome as a de facto amnesty for Karamanlis, while Giorgos Moulkiotis accused the government of undermining constitutional checks on executive power. Party officials said the legal reasoning was flawed and amounted to stripping Parliament of its investigative role.

The KKE called the proceedings a “farce” and said the government was “coordinating a cover-up of the Tempe crime.” MP Nikos Karathanassopoulos reaffirmed the party’s commitment to pursuing accountability.

The New Left described the session as a “day of shame.” Party spokesperson Nasos Iliopoulos criticised Karamanlis’s memorandum for failing to mention the victims and accused New Democracy of deliberately derailing the investigation. “This government is nullifying any possibility of truth or justice,” he said.

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