AKEL MEP Giorgos Georgiou elected Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament’s Pegasus Committee

 

10 May 2022

AKEL MEP Giorgos Georgiou was today elected Vice-Chairman of the new special committee of the European Parliament, which was set up to examine the events concerning the Pegasus software.

The Committee is composed of 38 MEP’s from all Political Groups, who are called to investigate allegations of a breach of EU law in the use of surveillance software. They will also examine existing national laws governing surveillance and whether Pegasus software has been used to monitor the mobile phones of politicians, officials and journalists in EU member states.

The appointment of AKEL MEP G. Georgiou is of particular importance as, in the context of the new Committee’s investigations, Cyprus will also be put under the microscope in order to establish whether it complied with the procedures provided for by EU law regarding the handling of the Pegasus issue.

The Committee of Inquiry will submit its final report to the European Parliament within 12 months, making whatever recommendations it deems necessary to protect the EU from spyware surveillance.

The issue of the use of Pegasus software by EU member states against individuals and the violation of fundamental rights was at the heart of the European Parliament’s plenary last week in Strasbourg.

During the discussion of the issue, Giorgos Georgiou focused on the fact that their use is not only limited to authoritarian regimes, but also by democratic governments. Their use, the AKEL MEP stressed, “undermines the very pillars of our democratic life: freedom of the press, the presumption of innocence, the right to privacy, the right to freedom of expression and association”.

Furthermore, the AKEL MEP proposed that the European Parliament, together with the international community, should take action to curb the global spyware industry through a moratorium on their sale and transfer until a global regime with transparent requirements based on the rule of law is established. At the same time, the victims of this software should be given the right to be able to sue governments and companies involved in the surveillance industry.