The European Parliament’s lead lawmaker investigating the use of spyware in Europe today slammed some of Europe’s most powerful politicians as sharing the blame for hacking phones with malicious software.
Members of Parliament spent months investigating a series of scandals in countries including Spain, Greece, Hungary and Poland about how spyware ended up on phones of opposition figures and journalists. The results of the probe “are shocking and they should alarm every European citizen,” a draft report by Dutch Liberal member Sophie In’t Veld said.
The Dutch lawmaker told POLITICO in an interview that all member states have spyware at their disposal, whether they admit it or not.
“Manipulation of national elections with the use of spyware, directly affects the composition of EU institutions and the political balance in the EU governance bodies. The four or five governments, accused of abusing spyware, represent almost a quarter of the EU population, so they carry considerable weight in the Council,” her report said.
“We are very worried about American democracy, we are very worried about democracy in Brazil … Why is it that we are worried about lots of things except for democracy inside the European Union itself?” In’t Veld said in the interview.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis are two leaders in the eye of national debates over the use of spyware by their national security services. In Hungary and Poland, the opposition has also lashed out at government leadership after revelations suggesting spyware was used for political purposes.
Parliament’s lead member is now asking the Commission to launch a full-blown inquiry into all allegations and suspicions of the use of spyware against Commission officials, and the meeting of all heads of state, the European Council, to dedicate a summit to the matter.
Parliament members investigating the issue visited countries that have seen incidents with spyware in past months. They visited Greece last week, and Cyprus, Poland and Israel before that.
The draft report includes first results of the investigation. Lawmakers will turn to recommending policies and measures to curb the abuse of spyware and are expected to release a final report next year.
Pause, not ban
In’t Veld is calling for a moratorium on spyware until the EU bloc figures out joint rules on the use of malicious software.
She says the moratorium can be lifted on a country-by-country basis if countries can prove they have a framework in place for responsible use of intrusive hacking tools, if they consent to EU oversight and if they immediately repeal export licenses for software that does not pass the EU’s criteria.
The Parliament’s draft report stops short of calling for a ban on spyware in Europe, as there may be exceptional situations where spyware can be useful, provided it’s used within the boundaries of the law, In’t Veld said.
National governments have pushed back on EU scrutiny of their security affairs — and especially intelligence activities.
But according to In’t Veld, “quite frankly, the whole notion of national security is being abused … As soon as national security is invoked, transparency doesn’t apply anymore, citizens’ rights don’t apply anymore. Parliamentary scrutiny or judicial scrutiny doesn’t apply anymore. It’s basically an area of lawlessness.”
In a letter to the inquiry committee dated mid-October and obtained by POLITICO, the Commission said “it is the responsibility of the Commission to oversee and assess the implementation of EU law by the member states.”
On Tuesday, the Socialist and Democrats group (S&D) in the Parliament called for a plenary debate to discuss the spying scandal that’s raging in Greece. The group also called on the Commission to present a strict legal framework on spyware.
“I am shocked by the ever-growing spyware scandal in Greece and by the total lack of will by the Greek authorities to properly investigate it,” said Hannes Heide, S&D spokesperson on the PEGA committee. “It shows that the Greek government is following the dangerous autocratic path of Poland and Hungary.”
This story has been updated.
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