Top court shakes Greek politics with key ruling on wiretapping scandal

Greece’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday (5 April) that people under surveillance by secret services should be informed about the reasons their privacy is breached, a development hailed by the opposition as a victory for the rule of law.

The court noted that removing any possibility to inform the affected person after the end of the measure, especially when there is no longer any risk to the national security that led to its imposition, is an “excessive restriction of the inviolability of communication, which is not justified in the context of the functioning of the rule of law”.

The Socialist party Pasok hailed the court’s ruling as a victory for the rule of law while the main opposition party, the leftist Syriza, commented: “Democracy in Greece is stronger than those who think they will be able to play with it for a long time”.

The Court was relating to the “Greek Watergate” case, a wiretapping scandal that has been rumbling on the Greek political scene after it was revealed in the summer of 2022 that Greek secret services had bugged the phones of several politicians, journalists, and businessmen.

Greek government rocked by more resignations over phone spying claims

Greece’s conservative government was rocked Friday (5 August) by a long-simmering surveillance scandal after its intelligence chief and a close aide to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis resigned in the space of an hour.

Following a check with the European Parliament services in July 2022, the leader of Pasok and then MEP Nikos Androulakis uncovered an attempt to contaminate his phone with illegal Predator spyware, and then the Greek secret services admitted that his phone was bugged.

The ruling conservative New Democracy party (EPP) denied it was behind the Predator attempt but admitted that the secret services had bugged the socialist leader’s phone, citing national security issues based on an amendment of a law adopted in March 2021.

The law amendment stipulated that those under surveillance were not allowed to be informed about the reasons due on national security grounds.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis insisted for months that he was unaware of these surveillance activities.

But during a debate a week before the national elections last June, he admitted that Androulakis “poses absolutely no risk to the country’s national security and should never have been under surveillance”.

Read more: Greek PM admits bugging socialist leader’s phone was wrong

‘No excuses’ anymore

With the new court ruling branding as unconstitutional the March 2021 law, Androulakis will now be able to find out the reasons behind his surveillance through the independent authority responsible for privacy issues, ADAE.

The chief of the authority, Christos Rammos, a senior judge who has insisted on shedding light on the case, repeatedly stated that the government was posing obstacles in the investigation over the wiretapping scandal.

Read more: Another MEP and journalist the latest victims of ‘Greek Watergate’

In an interview with Euractiv on Friday, Alexis Charitsis, the leader of the New Left party, said the court’s decision to reject New Democracy’s amendment is yet “another episode in the long course of the violation of every concept of the rule of law in our country by the Mitsotakis government”.

“The Mitsotakis government in 2021 violated the constitution and did so consciously. After this, the government moved on with a coup d’état, changing the composition of ADAE to cover its tracks,” Charitsis said.

He added that from now on, “there are no excuses”.

“After the top court’s decision and despite the change in its composition, ADAE must proceed with the necessary steps and inform the president of Pasok about the reasons he was put under surveillance”, he concluded.

(Sarantis Michalopoulos | Euractiv.com / Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

Read more with Euractiv

Jourová: US 'calm' about election manipulation threat

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about the Danish Defence Forces beset by turmoil, the upcoming local elections in Poland being a test for the new Polish government, and much more.