SYRIZA on spy scandal: "Mitsotakis government lacks any democratic legitimacy"

A spokesperson for the main opposition SYRIZA said that the administration of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has lost all legitimacy after intelligence services were proven to have spied on PASOK-KINAL leader Nikos Androulakis.

"The surveillance was done on the order of Mitsotakis, this regime was created on the order of the prime minister," main opposition SYRIZA spokesperson Nassos Iliopoulos said on Thursday in an interview with radio station Athens 9.84.

He also underlined that this case along with other similar wiretapping cases reported must be forwarded to the Institutions and Transparency Committee of the Parliament.

Iliopoulos explained that "it is inconceivable to discuss that a leader of a political party was monitored for reasons of national security."

"It is clear that this person does not have any democratic legitimacy to remain even a second longer in the position of the prime minister," the spokesperson of the main opposition said.

In a party statement on Wednesday, SYRIZA said the Legislative Content Act that went into effect Tuesday evening on the operation of Greek Intelligence Service (EYP) is another attempt by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to "avoid being held accountable in parliament."

The main opposition party charged that the Act, a response to a public outcry after revelations that Androulakis' phone had been tapped by the intelligence service, "maintains EYP's non-transparency regime," as it did not require parliamentary approval.

Following a request by SYRIZA, the Greek Parliament is set to reopen on August 22, earlier than scheduled, to discuss the phone-tapping of politicians and journalists.

With this Act and his "refusal to reconvene the parliament's Standing Committee on Institutions & Transparency," the Greek premier has ensured that EYP "maintains its non-transparency regime," the party noted, as the intelligence service continues to come directly under the supervision of the PM's office.

Androulakis pointed out in his statement on Wednesday that "if I had not been a member of the European Parliament, today, together with me and the entire Greek people, we would not have known about the deep state methods used by the current government."

"We would not have known that in September 2021, shortly after the announcement of my candidacy for the leadership of PASOK, the National Intelligence Service (EYP) began to monitor me and a few days later there was an attempt to tap my mobile phone using the Predator software.

"Through my own monitoring, an entire party was also monitored, former prime ministers, members of parliament, and members of the party, who talked with me regularly about the developments. So it wasn't just me they were monitoring, but an entire democratic party."

Androulakis clarified that he is not going to accept an unofficial briefing on the case. "I will not tolerate 'loss' or tampering with data. I will not play the conspiracy game with leaks about foreign countries," he said.

"I request that the entire file be immediately forwarded to the Institutions and Transparency Committee and that the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy and the Hellenic Data Protection Authority be informed in the most official way about the reasons for the illegal and unconstitutional monitoring of me by the Intelligence Service," he added.

READ MORE: Volos: Priest forbade couple from entering church because they were wearing masks.