Wiretapping brings House opening forward
The opening of the Parliament has been brought forward to August 22 as the government agreed with the request by main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras for a House debate on the wiretapping case.
“The government agrees to the acceleration of the opening of the Parliament on August 22 and the setting of the debate within that week,” said government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou on Monday.
Earlier, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the nation he did not know that the leader of the country’s opposition Socialist party had been wiretapped by Greece’s intelligence service in 2021, adding he would never have allowed it.
“Although everything was done lawfully, the National Intelligence Service (EYP) underestimated the political dimension of that particular action. It was formally adequate, but politically unacceptable. It should not have happened [and it] undermined citizens’ confidence in national intelligence,” Mitsotakis said.
“[The surveillance] may have abided by the letter of the law, but it was wrong. I had no knowledge of this; and, if I did, I would never have allowed it,” he said.
Mitsotakis said that the case had exposed the shortcomings of the Greek secret service and pledged an overhaul of EYP.
The head of EYP and the general secretary of Mitsotakis’ office have both resigned over the scandal involving the targeting of PASOK President Nikos Androulakis, also an MEP, and a journalist with spyware.
Meanwhile government aides signalled on Monday that they firmly support the “all in the light” approach, which means the new EYP administration will be asked, among other things, to investigate whether illegal surveillance software such as Predator is used by third parties. They also assured that no other political figures’ phone calls are being intercepted by EYP.
The government’s main talking points are that what was done was done in a legal manner, and that the political management of the case may be under scrutiny, but there is no question of illegal surveillance.
