The Greek railways, the political situation and government policies, as well as his personal ambitions, were the issues raised by Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis in an interview with protothema.gr.on Friday.

Starting with the issue of the 2023 Tempi train crash, Hatzidakis asserted that this would ultimately be shown to come down to the responsibility of the station master and of Hellenic Train, as well as of successive Greek governments.

He noted that the two years that have elapsed since the Tempi accident "were not a period of inactivity" and that there had been attempts to reform the railways. He pointed out that the former infrastructure and transport minister. Christos Staikouras. had presented 18 different actions for improving the railways, including in Parliament, but that "the railway network cannot change from one moment to the next."

At this point, Hatzidakis emphasised: "It is the Prime Minister's decision to move as quickly as possible to reorganise the network, to maintain it with contracts and international companies, and to have more modern trains after relevant consultation with the Italians. This is the role of the responsible minister, Konstantinos Kyranakis."

He even announced that "in the next Council of Ministers, on April 28, a bold bill for Hellenic Railways will come. And I am glad that I, in the context of my coordinating role, am participating with relevant experience. In this specific bill, we will adopt proposals from the Commission and from the National Aviation and Railway Accidents and Transportation Safety Investigation Agency (HARSIA)".

On the tariffs issue, Hatzidakis noted that "what scares us the most are the secondary effects," given that "80% of our exports are to European countries," and most tourists also come from Europe. In addition, "we are very closely monitoring the turmoil in the global economy," citing the example of how the recession will affect Greek shipping. He also raised another aspect of the issue: that any tariffs from Europe will affect companies that import raw materials from the United States.

In terms of economic policy, the Deputy Prime Minister spoke of a "social dividend that will be based on prudent fiscal management and the effort to limit tax evasion. This positive result will return to society, we have a plan for both 2025 and 2026,” he revealed. International developments could affect the plan, he acknowledged, but it was too early to say, one way or the other. In any case, he added, this is "the third major international crisis in six years (coronavirus, energy crisis, and now tariffs)", with the general conclusion being that no country is immune to them.