MPs brace for phone-tapping showdown 

The ongoing clash between the government and SYRIZA at Parliament’s Committee on Institutions and Transparency over the wiretapping affair is expected to culminate on Friday with an anticipated showdown between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras during a debate on the phone-tapping affair that is due to take place in Parliament.

At the same time, opposition PASOK chief Nikos Androulakis threw down the gauntlet on Thursday, calling on the prime minister to provide clear answers to a series of questions during the debate on the phone-tapping affair.

“I publicly invite Mr [Kyriakos] Mitsotakis to tell us tomorrow why I was a public danger. He has a duty to tell the whole truth to the Greek people,” said the socialist leader who recently learned that he had come under surveillance by the country’s intelligence service, EYP, after discovering an attempt to tap his phone.

Androulakis was speaking to members of PASOK-Movement for Change’s parliamentary group and political council, as well as other party officials, ahead of a debate in Parliament on Friday and a vote on whether to convene a House committee to conduct a probe into the matter.

“And if I was such a big danger as a European lawmaker, aren’t I a much bigger danger now that I’m president of the third-biggest party?” said Androulakis, who is a member of the European Parliament, and as such recently had a scan done of his phone that revealed an attempt to breach it using Predator malware during the fall 2021 race for the leadership of the socialist party.

The PASOK chief went on to accuse the conservative government and the prime minister’s office in particular of seeking to make a cat’s paw of PASOK and “hold it hostage.”