Greek prime minister reshuffles cabinet amid rail disaster protests
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis addresses the audience at the Greek Parliament in Athens, on March 5, 2025. (AFP Photo)
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reshuffled his cabinet on Friday, a move that comes as his government faces declining approval ratings and renewed protests over the country’s deadliest rail disaster in recent history.
The cabinet changes, which included new appointments to the finance, transport, migration and civil protection ministries, were announced just one week after the government survived a no-confidence vote related to its handling of the 2023 train crash. The foreign and defense ministers retained their positions.
“The prime minister has decided to make changes to several key ministries,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said in a televised statement.
The February 28, 2023, collision between a passenger train carrying more than 350 people and a freight train claimed 57 lives. The trains had traveled toward each other on the same track for miles without triggering any alarms, an incident investigators attribute to faulty equipment and human error.
While over 40 individuals have been prosecuted, including the station master responsible for routing the trains, the trial is not expected to begin until late this year.
Public anger over the disaster has intensified in recent months. On the second anniversary of the crash, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets nationwide. The Athens demonstration was reportedly the largest since the fall of the Greek dictatorship in 1974.
Report finds that Greek freight train carried illegal, undisclosed explosive chemicals
Adding to the controversy, an expert report commissioned by victims’ families alleges the freight train was carrying an illegal, undisclosed cargo of explosive chemicals that contributed to the high death toll. Greece’s state aviation and railway safety investigation agency noted last month there was a “possible presence” of an “unknown fuel” at the scene that created an “enormous ball of fire,” killing some who initially survived the collision.
Hellenic Train, the Italian-owned operator of the train service, has denied knowledge of any illegal cargo.
Recent polling indicates widespread public skepticism about the government’s transparency regarding the accident. A Star TV poll earlier this month found that more than half of Greeks favor early elections, while over 65 percent of ruling party voters believe government officials should face trial for the disaster.
“They are taking us for fools,” said Maria Karystianou, president of the Tempe Victims’ Association, whose daughter died in the crash. Speaking to students at Athens’ Panteio University this week, she called for an examination of phones belonging to Mitsotakis and other senior officials to determine whether “orders were given” to investigators to “destroy and conceal evidence” at the collision site.
Parliament voted last week to investigate allegations that a senior official dispatched by Mitsotakis authorized bulldozing the crash site, potentially destroying crucial evidence. A previous parliamentary inquiry concluded last March without assigning blame to any senior political figures.
