Greece: Kyriakos Mitsotakis Government Faces 'No Confidence' Motion Over Spyware Scandal
The Wire Staff
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New Delhi: The government in Greece under Kyriakos Mitsotakis faces a no-confidence motion over a wiretapping scandal.
Last year, in early August, a two top officials from the centre-right government of PM Mitsotakis had to resign after it emerged that the phone of an opposition leader, Nikos Androulakis who heads a centre-left party, had been tapped by the government.
The Mitsotakis's government had said that the wiretap, though improper, had been 'conducted legally' using spy services but cited national security to refuse to reveal why the tapping had been necessary.
At the time, the European Commission had said that it was gathering information concerning the reported use of spyware such as Pegasus or Predator.
Pegasus is a spyware sold by the Israeli company NSO Group, only to 'vetted governments,' the group claims. In 2021, the fact that several phones of politicians, activists and journalists across the world and in India had been tapped using this spyware had been revealed by an international cohort of news outlets, including The Wire. The Indian government also cited 'national security' to refrain from revealing facts to the Supreme Court on the alleged use of Pegasus.
The Associated Press has reported that the no-confidence motion was filed on Wednesday, January 25, by the leader of the main opposition party, the left-wing Syriza party's Alexis Tsipras.
He has said he submitted the motion “for the defence of democracy, transparency and justice" and to hold the prime minister accountable in parliament.
Such a motion kickstarts a three-day debate after which Greek parliamentarians vote on the motion. Out of the 300 seats in the Greek parliament, PM Mitsotakis's New Democracy party holds 156, so the motion is not expected to be passed.
National elections are scheduled to be held in Greece this year.
In addition to the opposition leader, there were allegations that other senior officials, journalists and cabinet members had also been targeted with the spyware.
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