Greek spyware scandal pits Brussels against Athens
The spyware scandal rocking Greece has spread beyond national borders. Both the European Parliament and the European Commission become actively involved in the search for answers. A growing number of MEPs is calling for an investigation and a plenary debate devoted to the issue, while the executive asks the Greek government for clarifications. #eudebates the unique initiative aiming to promote debate, dialogue, knowledge, participation and communication among citizens. #Greece #spy #spyware #pegasus #predator #Mitsotakis At the core of the growing dispute between Brussels and Athens is the perennial question of competencies. The EU institutions are trying to determine whether the mounting spying accusations infringe upon the bloc's data rules and fundamental rights, and constitute a European case. The scandal erupted in late July when MEP Nikos Androulakis revealed an attempt to hack his mobile phone through Predator, a system that allows the extraction of files and the surveillance of conversations. Androulakis has served in the European Parliament since 2014 and acts as the vice-chair of the subcommittee on security and defence. Last year, he also became the president of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), the third largest party in the Greek parliament. The attempted Predator attack was detected when Androulakis submitted his personal device to the European Parliament's services, which now feature spyware-detecting technology. The check-up showed the MEP had received a suspicious text message with a link, which was meant to install Predator on his phone. Unlike Pegasus, the programme used against high-profile politicians such as French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Predator requires its targets to open a link in order to infiltrate their devices. Androulakis did not click on the link, averting the cyberattack. 'Legal but politically unacceptable' Following the confirmation from the Brussels lab, the MEP filed a complaint with Greece's supreme court and accused the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of downplaying the severity of the case. “Revealing who is behind such sick practices and for whom they are acting is not a personal matter. It is my democratic duty,” Androulakis said at the time. The government insists it has never purchased or used the Predator spyware, which was developed by a little start-up called Cytrox and based in North Macedonia. Research by Citizen Lab, a renowned group that is part of the University of Toronto and specialises in the spyware industry, showed that Greece was among the "likely" customers of Cytrox, together with Armenia, Egypt, Indonesia, Madagascar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Serbia. What the government did acknowledge, however, was a more traditional surveillance operation on Androulakis's phone, which began in September 2021, around the same time the attempted attack with Predator took place. The bugging, launched by the National Intelligence Service (known as EYP, in its Greek acronym), ended three months later when the MEP became leader of PASOK. As the scandal deepened, opposition parties began searching for culprits: Panagiotis Kontoleon, the EYP's director, and Grigoris Dimitriadis, general secretary of the prime minister's office (and also his nephew), submitted their resignations in early August "It was a mistake," Mitsotakis said in a speech broadcast days after the resignations. The EYP is directly attached to the prime minister's office, a controversial decision made by Mitsotakis himself when he came to power and that now attracts greater scrutiny over his authority. "I didn’t know about [the bugging] and obviously, I would never have allowed it," the PM said, promising to carry out a series of reforms to the agency. Mitsotakis, however, argued the three-month wiretapping was done in accordance "with the letter of the law," although neither he nor any member from his team has explained the reasons behind the operation against the MEP and future electoral rival. Speaking before the national parliament in a session called by SYRIZA, the main opposition party, the prime minister described the EYP's operation as "legal but politically unacceptable" and invited Androulakis to appeal to Greek and European courts in order to settle the dispute. A 'highly debatable' connection The spyware revelations quickly reverberated across Brussels, where issues such as cyberattacks, espionage and electoral interference have become a top priority. Ana Gallego Torres, head of the European Commission's justice and consumers division, sent a letter in late July to Ioannis Vrailas, Greece's permanent representative to the EU, with questions related to the Predator hacking attempt and the bugging operation. Gallego's letter has not been made public but touched upon "the possible interplay between the EU's data protection rules and the national security framework", a spokesperson said.
The spyware scandal rocking Greece has spread beyond national borders. Both the European Parliament and the European Commission become actively involved in the search for answers. A growing number of MEPs is calling for an investigation and a plenary debate devoted to the issue, while the executive asks the Greek government for clarifications. #eudebates the unique initiative aiming to promote debate, dialogue, knowledge, participation and communication among citizens. #Greece #spy #spyware #pegasus #predator #Mitsotakis At the core of the growing dispute between Brussels and Athens is the perennial question of competencies. The EU institutions are trying to determine whether the mounting spying accusations infringe upon the bloc's data rules and fundamental rights, and constitute a European case. The scandal erupted in late July when MEP Nikos Androulakis revealed an attempt to hack his mobile phone through Predator, a system that allows the extraction of files and the surveillance of conversations. Androulakis has served in the European Parliament since 2014 and acts as the vice-chair of the subcommittee on security and defence. Last year, he also became the president of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), the third largest party in the Greek parliament. The attempted Predator attack was detected when Androulakis submitted his personal device to the European Parliament's services, which now feature spyware-detecting technology. The check-up showed the MEP had received a suspicious text message with a link, which was meant to install Predator on his phone. Unlike Pegasus, the programme used against high-profile politicians such as French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Predator requires its targets to open a link in order to infiltrate their devices. Androulakis did not click on the link, averting the cyberattack. 'Legal but politically unacceptable' Following the confirmation from the Brussels lab, the MEP filed a complaint with Greece's supreme court and accused the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of downplaying the severity of the case. “Revealing who is behind such sick practices and for whom they are acting is not a personal matter. It is my democratic duty,” Androulakis said at the time. The government insists it has never purchased or used the Predator spyware, which was developed by a little start-up called Cytrox and based in North Macedonia. Research by Citizen Lab, a renowned group that is part of the University of Toronto and specialises in the spyware industry, showed that Greece was among the "likely" customers of Cytrox, together with Armenia, Egypt, Indonesia, Madagascar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Serbia. What the government did acknowledge, however, was a more traditional surveillance operation on Androulakis's phone, which began in September 2021, around the same time the attempted attack with Predator took place. The bugging, launched by the National Intelligence Service (known as EYP, in its Greek acronym), ended three months later when the MEP became leader of PASOK. As the scandal deepened, opposition parties began searching for culprits: Panagiotis Kontoleon, the EYP's director, and Grigoris Dimitriadis, general secretary of the prime minister's office (and also his nephew), submitted their resignations in early August "It was a mistake," Mitsotakis said in a speech broadcast days after the resignations. The EYP is directly attached to the prime minister's office, a controversial decision made by Mitsotakis himself when he came to power and that now attracts greater scrutiny over his authority. "I didn’t know about [the bugging] and obviously, I would never have allowed it," the PM said, promising to carry out a series of reforms to the agency. Mitsotakis, however, argued the three-month wiretapping was done in accordance "with the letter of the law," although neither he nor any member from his team has explained the reasons behind the operation against the MEP and future electoral rival. Speaking before the national parliament in a session called by SYRIZA, the main opposition party, the prime minister described the EYP's operation as "legal but politically unacceptable" and invited Androulakis to appeal to Greek and European courts in order to settle the dispute. A 'highly debatable' connection The spyware revelations quickly reverberated across Brussels, where issues such as cyberattacks, espionage and electoral interference have become a top priority. Ana Gallego Torres, head of the European Commission's justice and consumers division, sent a letter in late July to Ioannis Vrailas, Greece's permanent representative to the EU, with questions related to the Predator hacking attempt and the bugging operation. Gallego's letter has not been made public but touched upon "the possible interplay between the EU's data protection rules and the national security framework", a spokesperson said.