PASOK: News report 'further exposes the deep state at Maximou'

A revelation by 'Efimerida ton Syntakton' about a former EU commissioner shows the shady dealings of the government, PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL) sources asserted on Friday.

They said the newspaper contained "the confirmation by former European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos that he had been informed by the Hellenic Data Protection Authority President Konstantinos Menoudakos of being among those targeted by [surveillance software] Predator."

Sourced added that the news report "further exposes the deep state at Maximos Mansion," the prime minister's office.

PASOK-KINAL will "continue its unwavering effort to throw a lot of light on this case that undermines democracy, the rule of law, and institutions," the sources underlined.

PASOK-KINAL leader Nikos Androulakis has taken the case of his cell phone being bugged by Greece’s National Intelligence Service EYP to the country’s highest administrative court to find out what information was gathered.

He is challenging the New Democracy government keeping the results of the bugging of his phone, among 15,745 people, confidential, citing it’s a national security issue that should be kept secret.

He is asking the Council of State to intervene after the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy (ADAE) rejected his request to show him the file of information after his immunity was lifted without his knowledge.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ administration has changed the makeup of the independent authority whose chief, Christos Rammos, said had led to the operation being muffled.

AADE said the authority is barred by the Constitution from providing this information although the government has ignored the Constitution in leasing public beach space to private businesses.

Androulakis, said the state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency AMNA, wants the court to override AADE to force the release of his case information and to question the Constitutional prohibition.

His argument is that regulation of a law that does not allow ADAE to notify a person they are being spied upon for security reasons instead contravenes the Greek Constitution and fundamental European treaties, among others.

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