A few hours before the parliamentary vote on the proposal to establish a preliminary investigation committee into the Tempe train disaster, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis escalated his rhetoric, responding to recent accusations of “high treason” made against him by Maria Karystianou, president of the Tempe Victims’ Relatives Association.

“This is going too far,” Mitsotakis said, speaking at the New Democracy political committee on Monday. “In desperation, they have reached the most extreme step: to accuse ministers and me, as Prime Minister, of high treason.”

He accused the opposition of “vulgar propaganda” and “exploitation of a collective tragedy”, claiming they had “turned mourning into partisan passion”.

Karystianou, in an earlier interview, criticised the Justice Ministry’s handling of the investigation and alleged executive interference, naming the Prime Minister directly.

The vote on the preliminary investigation will take place on Wednesday, 19 June, following a full-day parliamentary debate. The proposal concerns the potential responsibilities of former ministers of transport, Kostas Karamanlis and Christos Spirtzis.

Requests by SYRIZA, KKE, New Left and Plefsis Eleftherias for MPs to vote by offence, rather than by party proposal, were rejected during the Speakers’ Conference. Instead, the vote will proceed across 14 separate polling stations, one for each of the politicians named in the motions.

Mitsotakis warned that “the political confrontation will escape all limits” if Parliament is “dragged into a miserable agenda” and claimed his opponents were seeking to “poison society” and “awaken old divisions”.

The vote is expected to conclude late Wednesday night.

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