The Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, made a statement on the case of the wiretapping of Nikos Androulakis during the internal party election process in PASOK/KINAL.
The case caused the resignations of Secretary General of the Prime Minister Grigoris Dimitriadis and Head of National Intelligence Service (NIS) Panagiotis Kontoleon in the previous days.
The statements were made at 14:00′ after a series of long meetings between the Prime Minister and his associates.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke of insufficient handling by the NIS clarifying that “it may have been according to the letter of the law but it was a mistake, I was not aware of it and I would never allow it”.
Mr. Mitsotakis began his message by saying that “in our democracy no shadows are allowed. That’s why I want to talk to you openly about the recent developments”.
He then noted that he was informed a few days ago that “in September 2021, and while he was still an MEP, the National Intelligence Service had made a legal connection to the mobile phone of Nikos Androulakis”.
The Prime Minister then clarified that “the procedure had the approval of the prosecutor, exactly as stipulated by the provision passed in 2018 by the previous government. It lasted three months and was automatically stopped, as provided by law, a few days after Mr. Androulakis was elected president of KINAL”.
At the same time, the Prime Minister emphasized that he is willing to discuss proposals that “will strengthen the transparency in the action of our secret services without, obviously, hindering its mission. Starting, of course, with the strictest supervision in terms of legal wiretapping. This must be done and will be done immediately with an Act of Legislative Content”.
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Then the Prime Minister noted that “there are many enemies of the country lurking and would like a weak National Intelligence Service. And if some dark forces outside Greece strike any plan to destabilize the country, let them know that Greece is both strong and institutionally shielded”.
Thus, he submitted 4 fields of changes that the government will propose:
1st. Strengthening the accountability of the NIS and the supervision of the parliament through the Institutions and Transparency Committee.
2nd. Upgrading the role of the National Security Council for better utilization of information and the Ministry of Defense.
3rd. Shielding the legitimate wiretapping framework for political figures.
4th. Changes within the NIS to strengthen internal control, transparency, extroversion and training of its human resources.
