Responsibilities of the EU and the Greek Government in the wiretapping and spyware scandals
29.8.2024
Question for written answer E-001570/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Kostas Papadakis (NI), Lefteris Nikolaou-Alavanos (NI)
According to media reports that appeared in the Greek media in recent days, 28 out of the 87 natural and legal persons who were targeted by the Predator spyware were also spied on by the National Intelligence Service. This information supports the assumption that the wiretaps and surveillance originate from the same source.
However, that is at odds with the conclusions of the preliminary investigation conducted by the Greek Supreme Court into the phone-tapping case involving the use of Predator spyware, which found that no state service was involved.
Meanwhile, it is evident that the reactionary legislative framework shaped over the years by Greek governments and the EU enables mass surveillance and a trade in spyware, turning anyone fighting for rights into a potential surveillance target by invoking broad terms that are open to interpretation, such as ‘national security’, ‘public order’, ‘public interest’, ‘combating terrorism’, ‘radicalisation’ and ‘organised crime’.
In view of this, what is the Commission’s position:
- 1.concerning the fact that the so-called ‘police directive’ 2016/680 on the processing of personal data by the authorities and Regulation 2021/821 allow the development, trade in and circulation of spyware, leading to the indiscriminate surveillance of communications and the violation of private life and personal data?
- 2.concerning the fact that the so-called ‘EU rule of law’ has proven to be, amongst other things, a ‘legal’ smokescreen for repressing, informing on, keeping files on and generally spying on everyone, against the backdrop of fierce competition between bourgeois states and between business groups, as always against the rights and interests of ordinary working people?
Submitted: 29.8.2024