Greece's Mitsotakis pushes back against accusations his government spied on rivals

Revelations that a senior opposition politician's mobile phone was tapped have rattled the government and raised concerns about extent of this surveillance.

ATHENS - In a tense and highly confidential meeting in the Senate chamber of Greece's parliament, the chief spy slicked and sorted on the Prime Minister's side politely evaded questions from opposition lawmakers. They demanded to know if he had monitored a rival politician and a financial journalist investigating powerful business interests close to the prime minister.

But the investigations did not result in nothing. The chairman of the committee, a political ally of the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, discouraged follow-up questions, kept time to a minimum and assured that the July 29 meeting, the content of which is still protected, was a dud.

But less than a week later, accusations of government espionage exploded into a sprawling scandal that is now rocking the top of the Greek government, raising fears of widespread surveillance across Europe, and potentially putting another crack in Europe's united front against Russia for its war in Ukraine.

Greece today is inundated with discussions of blackmail, Watergate and a secret police state that uses a pervasive, forensic surveillance program with more than 15,000 orders last year alone to start, expand or cut wiretapping in this country of 10.5 million inhabitants so many. Predator, malicious spyware used to break into cell phones, has become part of the Greek vocabulary.

Mr. Mitsotakis, a conservative who took personal control of the intelligence portfolio in 2019 and whose own father was weakened by accusations of political espionage when he himself was prime minister some 30 years ago, is in full damage control mode.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">He sacked his loyal spy chief, Panagiotis Kontoleon, accepted the resignation of the government secretary general, Grigoris Dimitriadis - who is also his nephew - and gave a nationally televised address this week full of denials and proposals to reform the spy agency, including adding a layer of judicial review to what many critics have called a internal buffer before wiretap authorization.

"I didn't know and obviously I never would have allowed," Mr. Mitsotakis said of spying on his political rival, although the news agency ignation of the country is under his surveillance.

ImageAfter the outbreak of the scandal, Panagiotis Kontoleon , the head of the Greek spies, has been sacked. Credit...Alexander Beltes/EPA, via Shutterstock

The scandal echoes the dark days of Greece's military junta, but it's also very much in line with the European moment current. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been the target of the powerful Pegasus spyware, as has French President Emmanuel Macron, the former Belgian prime minister and senior EU official. official.

There are growing concerns that Europe, so proud of its privacy protections and rule of law, is spilling over into devices eavesdropping and spying at a time when its democracies are being threatened by Russian aggression. So much so that the European Union regularly checks devices.

Spyware investigations should now "involve checking the phones of all politicians and high-ranking officials" , Sophie in 't Veld, the chairwoman of the European Parliament's special committee on espionage...