The European Commission accuses the Greek government: “Spying on political opponents is unacceptable”

The European Commission “sees” in the case of N. Androulakis Greek “Watergate” for attempts by intelligence agencies to inject spyware into the smartphone of the President of PASOK KINAL.

In fact, the commission accuses the Greek government that, if Androulakis’s complaint is confirmed, it will become main culprit the kind of action usually taken totalitarian regimes.

“Any attempt by the national security services to gain illegal access to the data of citizens, including journalists and political opponents, if confirmed, is unacceptable» , a representative of the Commission told EURACTIV in the case of PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis.

The commission spokesman said she took note of a letter from Nikos Androulakis about an attempt to eavesdrop on his mobile phone, as well as media reports of spyware being used by some governments.

“The investigation of such matters is the responsibility of each Member State EU. The Commission expects the national authorities to scrutinize any such allegations and restore the confidence of the citizens.”— said the representative of the commission, referring to the latest report on the rule of law in Greece, which highlights this issue and gives strict recommendations to the commission on the implementation of EU legislation.

“Member States are responsible for ensuring their national security”, he said, adding that they must apply relevant EU laws and monitor their security services to ensure that fundamental rights are fully respected, including the protection of personal data, the safety of journalists and freedom of expression.

“Although Member States are competent to ensure their national security, they must apply relevant EU law, including CJEU case law.”

On Tuesday 26 July President PASOK-KINAL filed a complaint to the prosecutor’s office of the Supreme Court for an attempt to listen and spy on his mobile phone using the Predator program.

According to the party, on September 21, 2021 – shortly before the start of internal party elections – the MEP and President of PASOK-Movement for Change received a text message inviting them to follow a certain link, which was used as a “bait” to install the Predator tracking software on the target’s mobile phone.

On June 28, 2022, Nikos Androulakis used a European Parliament service that, as a precautionary measure, checks telephone devices for infection with illegal surveillance software. This link is used as a bait to install Predator spyware, according to the University of Toronto’s Citizens Lab.

Androulakis never clicked on that link…

In April 2022, the head of the Prosecutor’s Office of Athens ordered conduct a preliminary investigation into the surveillance by the Greek National Intelligence Service (Ε.Υ.Π.) of Greek investigative journalist Thanasis Koukakis, financial editor of CNN Greece. The results of the investigation were not published.

The Predator software is a surveillance tool that gives its operator full and permanent access to the target’s device. Predator allows the operator to extract passwords, files, photos, web browsing history, contacts, as well as identification data such as mobile device information. The spyware was developed by the Cytrox company from North Macedonia and is used mainly by the secret services of NATO countries.

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