MEP Clare Daly (The Left). - Mr President, I too condemn the use of spyware by Greece against journalists and opposition. I’m glad we are debating it because, to be honest, we didn’t deal efficiently enough with similar revelations against our Catalan MEP colleagues.
But the truth is that this scandal really is just the tip of an iceberg. The design, sale and use of spying technologies doesn’t happen by accident; it’s a business, a branch not only of Israel but also of the European arms industry. We fund it through the EU budget by financing research and development, by producing the products to use them on desperate migrants on our borders and in third countries. We encourage surveillance commerce. As far back as 2011, WikiLeaks published a trove of brochures of these companies gathered from cyber-arms fairs in European capitals, where security services browsed for weapons of mass surveillance. We can’t say we weren’t warned. We can’t say these are isolated cases. If we’re serious about putting an end to it, we need to kick the arms dealers and lobbyists out of Brussels, turn off the tap for their funding and put an end to the cancer of surveillance capitalism.
#eudebates the unique initiative aiming to promote debate, dialogue, knowledge, participation and communication among citizens. #Greece #spy #spyware #pegasus #predator #Mitsotakis
After Hungary, Poland and Spain, Greece is the latest Member State accused of spying on journalists and opposition politicians. While the opposition is seeking transparency and is steadily increasing the pressure, the Greek government has acknowledged select surveillance operations but insists on their legality and categorically denies purchasing or using the commercial Predator spyware. This EPRS paper synthesises the fast-paced and highly politicised developments at national level and contextualises the European Union's responses. It refers to the EPRS study 'Europe's PegasusGate' for more information and possible ways forward.
The EU Commission said Monday it was a matter for national Greek institutions to see if the centre-right Greek government broke the law by spying on an opposition leader. EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders also told an EU Parliament hearing he had "entered into an exchange of letters" with Athens on compliance with EU data-protection laws. But MEPs from the left, liberal, and green groups wanted tougher EU-level action.
The spyware scandal rocking Greece has spread beyond national borders. Both the European Parliament and the European Commission become actively involved in the search for answers. A growing number of MEPs is calling for an investigation and a plenary debate devoted to the issue, while the executive asks the Greek government for clarifications.
At the core of the growing dispute between Brussels and Athens is the perennial question of competencies.
The EU institutions are trying to determine whether the mounting spying accusations infringe upon the bloc's data rules and fundamental rights, and constitute a European case.
The scandal erupted in late July when MEP Nikos Androulakis revealed an attempt to hack his mobile phone through Predator, a system that allows the extraction of files and the surveillance of conversations.
Androulakis has served in the European Parliament since 2014 and acts as the vice-chair of the subcommittee on security and defence. Last year, he also became the president of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), the third largest party in the Greek parliament.
The attempted Predator attack was detected when Androulakis submitted his personal device to the European Parliament's services, which now feature spyware-detecting technology. The check-up showed the MEP had received a suspicious text message with a link, which was meant to install Predator on his phone.
Unlike Pegasus, the programme used against high-profile politicians such as French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Predator requires its targets to open a link in order to infiltrate their devices.
Androulakis did not click on the link, averting the cyberattack.
'Legal but politically unacceptable'
Following the confirmation from the Brussels lab, the MEP filed a complaint with Greece's supreme court and accused the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of downplaying the severity of the case.
“Revealing who is behind such sick practices and for whom they are acting is not a personal matter. It is my democratic duty,” Androulakis said at the time.
What the government did acknowledge, however, was a more traditional surveillance operation on Androulakis's phone, which began in September 2021, around the same time the attempted attack with Predator took place.
"It was a mistake," Mitsotakis said in a speech broadcast days after the resignations.