Greek lawmakers debate wiretapping scandal

Greek lawmakers are discussing a wiretapping scandal that has roiled the government ahead of elections due to be held next year, in a parliamentary session called following revelations that the intelligence service had bugged an opposition politician’s phone.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was to open Thursday’s session on what the government has called the “legal surveillance” of the mobile phone of Nikos Androulakis, head of the opposition socialist PASOK party, for three months last year when he had been running for the party leadership.
The session was called by the main opposition SYRIZA party to discuss the wiretapping of politicians and journalists.
Mitsotakis said earlier this month that he had been unaware the National Intelligence Service, known by its Greek acronym EYP, had been tapping Androulakis’ phone, and that he would not have allowed it had he known. The intelligence service reports directly to Mitsotakis’ office, a change he brought about himself after winning elections in 2019.
The scandal has already led to the resignation of the head of EYP, Panagiotis Kontoleon, and the general secretary of the prime minister’s office, Grigoris Dimitriadis.