Greek opposition parties call for premier's resignation amid surveillance scandal

By Anadolu Agency Staff

ANKARA (AA) - Amid a ground-shaking wiretapping scandal, Greek opposition parties on Friday united in demanding that the country's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis step down from his position.

Speaking at a parliamentary session called by his main opposition SYRIZA-PS party over the scandal, Alexis Tsipras directly addressed Mitsotakis, pressing him on the reasons behind the surveillance of Nikos Androulakis, the leader of the country's third biggest party, PASOK-KINAL.

"You're obliged to give an answer. What was this reason of national security? Is he an agent of foreign interests? Is he dangerous to national security? Even your refusal to tell the truth is a response," said Tsipras.

The main opposition party leader also maintained that Mitsotakis has sought to form an authoritarian regime since he came to power in 2019 by bringing the National Intelligence Service (EYP) and public broadcaster ERT under his direct control.

Calling on Mitsotakis to resign, Tsipras said the only way out of the crisis would be through fresh popular elections.

In response, Mitsotakis insisted that he had not given the order to wiretap Androulakis and that he would not have approved the move had he been made aware.

"When I was informed of it, I didn't hesitate to say that it was wrong," he asserted.

Furthermore, Mitsotakis accused the main opposition leader of monitoring Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis while he was prime minister in 2015, a claim later rejected both by Tsipras and Varoufakis.

In response to the call for snap elections, the premier ruled out stepping down in "times of crisis."

"We will get through this difficult winter together and at the end of four years (summer 2023) we will face off against each other," he added.

Taking the floor instead of PASOK-KINAL head Androulakis, who is not a lawmaker, Michael Katrinis asked why his party's leader was monitored and who else was under surveillance.

He claimed that the Androukalis was the victim of an operation by a "parastatal mechanism" that sought to take control over PASOK.

"The hard times now begin for you (Mitsotakis). PASOK will bring the truth to light," he said.

Dimitris Koutsoumpas, secretary-general of the Greek Communist Party (KKE), maintained that the resignations of the EYP chief and general secretary of the prime minister earlier this month, would not be enough for the prime minister to escape from responsibility over the scandal.

Underscoring that surveillance of Androulakis was illegal, he claimed that the KKE had also been monitored.

Apart from the EYP, the police were also involved in wiretapping operations, using spyware purchased from other European nations and Israel, Koutsoumbas asserted.

Kyriakos Velopoulos, leader of the Elliniki Lisi (Greek Solution) -- the only right-wing opposition party in parliament -- said the EYP had been turned into a "tool of gangs."

Yanis Varoufakis, Tsipras' former finance minister who is now at the helm of the MeRA25 party, argued that the prime minister needed to be impeached for the sake of democracy in the country.

He also blamed the government for allowing Western intelligence agencies to operate freely in the country to monitor politicians and public figures, including himself.​​​​​​​

- Surveillance scandal

In a televised address to the nation on Aug. 8, Mitsotakis acknowledged that Androulakis was wiretapped by the EYP, but he denied knowledge of the operation.

"Although everything was done legally, the EYP underestimated the political dimension of this action. It was formally OK but politically unacceptable," he said.

The announcement followed the resignation of EYP head Andreas Kontoleon and the Prime Minister's Secretary General Grigoris Dimitriadis on Aug. 5.

The scandal unfolded on Aug. 4 when Kontoleon told a parliamentary committee that his agency had been spying on financial journalist Thanasis Koukakis.

The parliamentary probe was launched after Androulakis complained to top prosecutors about an attempt to hack his mobile phone with Israeli-made Predator surveillance software.