The government does not deny surveillance of citizens by the NSA, citing “internal danger” regarding the refugee/migration and anti-vaccination “movement”.
In particular, the government spokesman, Yannis Economou, when asked about a relevant publication by EFSYN, replied that: “Greece is a European state governed by the rule of law, and this perception pervades us horizontally. On the other hand, the NIS performs a very important task and role and with great competence, as we have realized many times in the past, in terms of threats to national security, the security of citizens and the normal social life, whether from external or internal threats, such as organized crime. Threats that have more hybrid characteristics as we have seen in Evros and now with the health crisis that some are trying to exploit and create situations that pose threats to the lives of citizens.”.
Mr Economou noted that the NSA is supervised by a public prosecutor and argued that it would be good for the NIS to stay out of the public political debate, noting that this does not concern the work of the journalist, but clarifying that the point concerns SYRIZA and the derogatory characterizations of the NIS commander. “We did not expect SYRIZA to be sensitive, but the NIS should not be instrumentalized in political debate. The commander of the EIS is at the disposal of the leader of the opposition,” he said.
