Greece’s prime minister on Thursday defended the workings of the country’s intelligence service in the face of a wiretapping scandal, saying its operation is essential to the country’s security despite what he described as the misstep of tapping an opposition politician’s phone.
Speaking during a parliamentary debate called by the main opposition party over the wiretapping of politicians and journalists, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that “nothing must bring into question this valuable operational branch of the state. It is a national branch, it must not paralyze for a second. Something like that would be disastrous.”
Parliament returned early from its summer break for the debate, called by the main opposition SYRIZA party after revelations that Nikos Androulakis, head of Greece’s third-largest political party, was put under surveillance for three months last year when he was running for his PASOK party’s leadership, and that a financial journalist was also under surveillance.
Mitsotakis, who faces re-election next year, has insisted he was unaware of what he has called the legal wiretapping of Androulakis, but that he would not have approved it had he known. Greece’s National Intelligence Service reports directly to the prime minister’s office.
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