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E.Tsiliopoulos

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The Thessaloniki Metro and New Democracy’s Bid to Rebuild Trust

Saturday marked the inauguration of the long-awaited Thessaloniki metro, celebrated with speeches by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, EU Commissioner of Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas, and other key officials involved closely in delivering the project.

metro

Anxious Citizens, Candid Speeches

Meanwhile, outside the metro station, crowds of excited citizens braved the rain and watched the ceremony via live stream to witness the Prime Minister officially start operations and to experience firsthand Thessaloniki’s new sustainable transportation system.

The speeches were candid, acknowledging the excessive delays, citizens’ justified frustration, and the decades of mismanagement that inflated the project’s cost- to a staggering €3 billion for just 13 stations.

The Thessaloniki metro’s origins trace back 48 years when former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis added the project to Greece’s 1976 budget. Construction, however, only began 22 years ago.

Hopes for a More Sustainable City

Today, the city’s residents and visitors can finally traverse 9.6 km on driverless trains along a line that integrates cutting-edge technology and celebrates the region’s rich historical heritage in what has been called a metro museum.

The hope is that the metro will service 240,000 persons on a daily basis and remove 57,000 cars from the road, along with their emissions, as the public begins to embrace and make use of the metro.

The Commissioner pledged to follow the metro’s continued development as he officially undertakes his new responsibilities in Brussels as Commission as of December 1.

Thanking the Prime Minister for his dedication to the Thessaloniki metro project, Tzitzikostas remarked that the metro’s completion is ultimately important because it repairs the trust between Thessaloniki’s citizens and the Greek government.

However, reactions on social media and interviews of Greek citizens on the streets outside of the metro stations reveal mixed emotions.

While many expressed excited disbelief at the metro’s debut or cautious enthusiasm, a vocal minority remain critical. Concerns linger over the substantial profits earned by contractors, the disruption of archaeological sites facilitated by archaeological authorities to accommodate station development, and the perceived cozy relationship between big business in Greece and government.

As a result, it remains uncertain whether Prime Minister Mitsotakis’ “seeing is believing” approach will indeed be enough to silence these critics. For many citizens of Thessaloniki, tangible progress on the envisioned metro expansions over the next few years may ultimately be what is needed for citizens to ‘turn the page’ on decades of frustration and mistrust.

Shocking femicide in Thessaloniki

Α new shocking femicide took place, this time in Thessaloniki, with a 60-year-old victim.

The woman's son spoke on Monday morning on the ANT1 show "Good Morning Greece", stating that she and her partner "didn't have any particular problems. Sometimes they had some arguments, but everything was within normal limits". "Nobody expected this relationship to end like this" he added.

"This man didn't just stab her, he disemboweled her"

At the same time, he also spoke about the slight injury of his brother, who tried to intervene, was not fatal.

"If the knife had found him down there, we would have mourned him too" emphasized the 60-year-old's son, while he said the following about the brutal murder of his mother: "This man didn't just stab her, he disemboweled her".

In fact, he added that "it was not a simple stabbing", but that the 46-year-old "intended to kill her".

The chronicle of the femicide in Thessaloniki

It all happened on Sunday morning, when the 46-year-old killed his wife, aged 60, in Angelochori, in the Thermaikos region.

Specifically, after an intense fight he had with his 60-year-old wife, in the house where they lived, he grabbed two knives and killed her.

At the same time, he also injured the woman's 29-year-old son in the shoulder, who was present at the incident and tried to protect his mother from the perpetrator.

According to information, the 29-year-old's life is not in danger and he is being treated at the Ippokrateio Hospital in Thessaloniki.

The 46-year-old surrendered to the Thermaikos Police Station and confessed to his actions

The 46-year-old then went to the Thermaikos Police Department, confessed to his actions and was arrested. A case was filed against him for manslaughter, both completed and attempted, and he is expected to be brought before the prosecutor today, Monday.

According to information, no incident of domestic violence had been recorded against him.