Sök

This briefing was prepared by the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs upon request of the EP Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware for its mission to Cyprus and Greece, from 1 to 4 November 2022.

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 ...

'This is Europe' – an initiative proposed by the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola – consists of a series of debates with EU leaders to discuss their visions for the future of the European Union. On 5 July 2022, the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was the fourth EU leader to address the Parliament since its Conference of Presidents endorsed the initiative on 28 April 2022. Mr Mitsotakis mentioned EU solidarity frequently, in terms of how it had helped Greece during ...

This In-Depth Analysis, requested by the European Parliament's LIBE Committee - Democracy Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group, examines the situation of Democracy, the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights in Greece and how Article 2 TEU values are respected and implemented in the country, focusing on anti-corruption measures and issues related to media freedom.

Before the pandemic, the Greek economy was just getting back onto a positive path, following reforms implemented under the macroeconomic adjustment programmes. Action to address the country's specific characteristics is now all the more important since the -8.2 % downturn of 2020. Greece was among the first four countries to submit its national recovery and resilience plan (NRRP) in April 2021. The plan envisages investments and reforms totalling €30.5 billion, to be implemented up to 2026, with ...

Since the beginning of the migratory crisis in 2015, growing numbers of unaccompanied children have been seeking protection in Europe. With increased migratory pressure in Greece along the EU's external border with Turkey at the beginning of 2020, and following the Greek government's official request for support, the European Commission launched a relocation scheme to speed up relocation of unaccompanied minors from the Greek islands to other EU Member States. Human rights organisations had denounced ...

Turkey has featured regularly on the agenda of the European Council in recent years, notably in the context of the migration crisis and military operations in Syria, and as a result of an increasingly tense situation in the eastern Mediterranean, which led to a significant military build-up at sea during the summer of 2020. In all these cases, the European Council (re)acted swiftly, ensuring that the views of the Member States were taken into consideration. In the migration crisis, it stepped up ...

The EU's binding climate and energy legislation for 2030 requires Member States to adopt national energy and climate plans (NECPs) covering the period 2021 to 2030. In October 2020, the European Commission published an assessment for each NECP. Greece submitted its NECP in December 2019. Greece accounts for 2.4 % of total EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and has reduced its emissions at a higher pace than the EU average since 2005. The carbon intensity of the Greek economy decreased by 23 % from ...

North Macedonia was the first Western Balkan country to conclude a stabilisation and association agreement with the EU in 2004; just one year later, it became a candidate country. However, bilateral disputes with Greece and Bulgaria have blocked accession negotiations so far.

The 'hotspot approach' was presented by the European Commission as part of the European Agenda on Migration in April 2015, when record numbers of refugees, asylum-seekers and other migrants flocked to the EU. The 'hotspots' – first reception facilities – aim to improve coordination of the EU agencies' and national authorities' efforts at the external borders of the EU, in the initial reception, identification, registration and fingerprinting of asylum-seekers and migrants. Even though other Member ...