Government to go on offensive over wiretapping
PM to urge opposition to take position whether EYP should be banned from monitoring politicians
The government and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in particular, are reportedly set to go on the offensive during Friday’s debate in Parliament on the wiretapping affair which has been requested by main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras.
Firstly, Mitsotakis is expected to stress that it was he who opened the issue in early August, when he was informed about the wiretapping attempt on the mobile phone of PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis.
“How can anyone accuse the prime minister of a cover-up when he himself unraveled the tangle by asking for [head of Greece’s National Intelligence Service / EYP] Panagiotis Kontoleon’s resignation and accepting [secretary-general to the PM] Grigoris Dimitriadis’ resignation?” a government source told Kathimerini.
The second issue the government will raise is EYP and what needs to be done to prevent new instances of surveillance like the one on Androulakis’ mobile phone.
Kathimerini understands that the government’s four-point plan to restructure and rebuild the National Intelligence Service includes “extra filters” so that no one can easily monitor political officials or journalists.
Linked to this, the PM will raise the question of whether or not it should be legal for a politician to be monitored.
In other words, whether EYP should have this right or if any such possibility should be abolished by law. Aides to the PM have reportedly suggested that he pose this question as it needs to be clarified and there should be a joint decision by the parties.
In his letter of resignation to Mitsotakis, Kontoleon had cited “oversights in the process of statutory inspections.”
Kontoleon had submitted his resignation “following mistaken actions found during lawful wiretapping procedures,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Any monitoring must be approved by a prosecutor in accordance with Greek law.
Meanwhile, a parliamentary committee approved the appointment of diplomat Themistoklis Demiris to head EYP after the sacking of Kontoleon.
Demiris, a secretary-general in the Greek Foreign Ministry, is 70 years old and has held diplomatic posts in Italy, Cyprus and the EU.
After a meeting behind closed doors, the 19-member Committee on Institutions and Transparency of the Parliament approved his appointment, according to a statement from the Parliament’s president.
