Wiretapping: Research initiatives in the European Parliament
By Michalis Hatjikonstantinou
[email protected]gr
New initiatives to shed light on the wiretapping scandal in Greece and other European countries have been undertaken by the European Parliament’s Investigative Committee (PEGA) at a time when the Investigative Committee of the Hellenic Parliament is preparing to end the investigation without providing an answer.
The “contrary lives” of the two Investigators in the EU were confirmed yesterday as it became known that the committee of the European Parliament sent a letter to the executive directorate of Europol and asked it to assist in the effort to reveal the perpetrators of the wiretapping. In fact, in the said letter, PEGA raises the risk that the traces of the Predator’s operations will be lost if the European Police Service does not take action. “Every day that passes there is a greater risk that evidence will disappear or be destroyed,” he emphasized in the letter to the executive director Catherine de Bolle.
European Parliament’s concern over Greek “reluctance” to investigate
At the same time, the authors of the report clearly express their concern that the authorities in Greece (as well as in Hungary, Poland and Spain) do not have the skills and the will to shed light on the scandal of the surveillance of politicians and journalists. “There are concerns about the ability and willingness of national authorities to investigate quickly and thoroughly,” the letter states.
Meanwhile, the rapporteur of the European Parliament’s Inquiry Committee, Sophie in’t Veldt, with her article in the Eteron institute, highlighted the relationship of governments with the Predator software. “Mercenary spyware is a key tool in governments’ toolkits for monitoring, gathering compromising information, blackmailing, discrediting, intimidating, manipulating, and even planting evidence against adversaries, critics, or those they aim to expose corruption and crime,” he said
The invocation of “national security” as a fig leaf
It is noted that the Dutch MEP did not rule out the possibility of eavesdropping on politicians and journalists through the Predator in parallel with the monitoring of secret services such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The use of mercenary spyware can be combined with ‘official’ surveillance by government authorities, mainly secret services, and legitimized by flimsy or bogus judicial authorization processes, invoking ‘national security’, mainly as a tip sheet to deny transparency and accountability” he said.
Curtain in the Greek Examination without answers
At the same time, the coalition is preparing to end the work of the Commission of Inquiry in the Hellenic Parliament without having summoned any of the persons involved and without having testified to any of those involved in the action of the Predator. Even Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper, admitted that he has no light on the reasons for the decision to monitor Nikos Androulakis. “I have not been able to clarify the case. I have not been able to clear up the case. The explanations were not sufficient and that’s why I had to expel two people” acknowledged the prime minister.