Friday

29th Mar 2024

Opinion

Pegasus: Are we becoming a Europe of spies?

  • Diana Riba in the EU Parliament in Strasbourg (Photo: europarl.eu)
Listen to article

A week ago, the influential magazine The New Yorker published an in-depth study conducted by the University of Toronto's interdisciplinary laboratory Citizen Lab, which showed that at least 65 Catalan political and social leaders had been spied on using the now notorious Pegasus spyware.

This is undoubtedly the largest political espionage case ever discovered — a case that implicates Spain alongside other countries which faced similar scandals, such as Poland and Hungary.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

It goes to shows that the use of this type of spyware is becoming ever more widespread in the European Union.

It is happening in states which call themselves democracies, but which fail to protect the fundamental rights of their citizens.

We see, with concern, how the democratic space is being restricted in quite a few parts of Europe, and that is why those of us who represent European citizens and who defend the fundamental values of the Union have to show some self-criticism.

Are we doing enough to prevent the authoritarian backsliding of some member states?

The answer is that EU institutions have most certainly not provided a sufficiently clear, forceful, and effective response to the breaches of our rights and freedoms that we are witnessing within our European borders.

This contrasts with the vehement denunciations we sometimes hear when such abuses occur outside the EU.

And so, little by little, this is how the European project and its credibility are being worn away.

We cannot afford to see our Europe straying into a surveillance-and-control society in which states have access to all our information and communications, to use against us when it suits them.

There are poisonous examples of this kind of behaviour in Russia and China especially — these are precisely the examples we do not want our own governments to follow.

Cui bono?

This time, the spying appears to have been perpetrated by the Spanish state — after all, who else would spend millions of euros on espionage on the Catalan independence movement, if not Spain?

And it has struck at the very home of European democracy — the European Parliament (EP).

I myself have been spied upon during my term as an MEP. My communications with other MEPs, advisers, assistants and parliamentary staff have been utterly exposed.

That means that I am a direct victim, but it also means that all my other colleagues in the EP are collateral victims.

Let's not forget that we MEPs represent the democratic will of Europeans, the will of 450 million citizens, which has been violated by the espionage of a single member state's government.

The #CatalanGate scandal is massive and must be condemned, as a Washington Post editorial demanded last week.

This is not just because we victims have a right to the truth and to know who is spying on us, why they are spying on us and where our information is now, but also because we need to repair the damage done to European democracy.

In the EU, such acts, which normally belong in the most illiberal of countries, must have consequences.

The day after the scandal was uncovered, the EP set up an inquiry committee on Pegasus.

This initiative, fortunately, enjoys great consensus among the main political groups in the European Parliament.

This new instrument should steer us towards clarification of the many cases unveiled all over the European Union, and also towards a European legal framework that will help prevent there being any further victims.

It should also ascertain how illegal espionage, which costs millions, is being paid for. Well, we already know who is probably paying: the European taxpayer.

Author bio

Diana Riba is a Catalan MEP in the Greens/EFA group in the EU Parliament and a vice-chair of the Pegasus inquiry committee.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

EU Commission won't probe 'Pegasus' spyware abuse

The European Commission says people should file their complaints with national authorities in countries whose governments are suspected of using an Israeli-made Pegasus spyware against them.

Privacy watchdog proposes EU-ban on Pegasus-like spyware

The Brussels-based European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) warns the software could lead to an unprecedented level of intrusiveness into citizens' private lives and shake the foundations of a free-thinking society.

Is EU 'Horizon' science funding going towards Pegasus spyware?

MEPs have raised questions about the involvement of the EU — through its funding — in the development of the Israeli NSO Pegasus software, directly or indirectly, which has been used to target activists and journalists in Europe.

Greek PM embroiled in spyware scandal

Greece has become embroiled in a wiretapping scandal that led to the resignation of its intelligence chief as well as the Greek prime minister's top aide.

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Column

EU's Gaza policy: boon for dictators, bad for democrats

While they woo dictators and autocrats, EU policymakers are becoming ever more estranged from the world's democrats. The real tragedy is the erosion of one of Europe's key assets: its huge reserves of soft power, writes Shada Islam.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us