Fierce confrontation between Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Alexis Tsipras on the surveillance case is expected to take place in the Parliament during the discussion of the bill for the modernization of the communications declassification regime and the new institutional framework for the operation of the Hellenic National Information Agency (NIS).

The key points of the Prime Minister’s speech:

– Liberal democracy must to be defended

– National threats often take the form of asymmetric attacks on the soft underbelly of society. For example, is the systematic channeling of fake news from foreign centers a threat or not? Is the stability of a country not threatened by immigration flows or other traps aimed at eroding stability from abroad?

– We unite all the scattered services and the responsibility for this will be given to a permanent committee in the Ministry of Justice.

– Buying, selling and the possession of surveillance software return to the Criminal Code from which they were deleted a few days before the 2019 elections. Only the state will be able to procure such software but under strict conditions.

– The use of malicious software by a private individual is completely prohibited. It will constitute a felony and carry up to 10 years in prison.

– The files will be deleted 6 months after the completion of the operation but the reason file will be kept for 10 years and then a report will be drawn up with the content of the file and the reasoning.

– All files will be digitized and if there is a disagreement, the majority of the three-member body will be accepted.

– Informing anyone who is under legal surveillance will be done after 3 years and this will be decided by the president of the telecommunications privacy committee, the administrator of the NIS and the prosecutor.

– Overlapping control filters for legitimate surveillance. Only the NIS and anti-terrorist agencies will be able to request it. The request must clearly state the reason and must be agreed upon by two prosecutors. For a political person, there should also be the approval of a third political factor, that of the Speaker of the Parliament.

– The definition of the concept of national security becomes tighter. The Constitution deliberately leaves it open. A national security reason justifying a legal surveillance would be one related to a matter of cybersecurity and national security.

– The NIS forms an internal control unit as an additional shield.

– The characteristics of the NIS commander. From now on he can only be a diplomat or a senior officer and deputy commanders are limited to two and will be civil servants. Consequently, neither journalists nor private managers can lead the NIS.

– National security must be a constant and permanent priority.

– Greece is not a country in a neutral part of the world, it neighbors many dangers, it is at the center of multifaceted challenges such as immigration and our position on the map requires constant vigilance.

– No change can prevent the mission of critical arms of the state such as the NIS or Anti-Terrorism.

– The bill removes malfunctions that emerged with the case of the leader of PASOK.

– Today’s technology explosion cannot be handled with tools from the past.

– The bill is a brave institutional response.

– At the end of August, we had announced a legislative initiative on the matter after the leadership of the NIS had been replaced and double judicial control had been established over the legal attachments.