On Tuesday 29 November, the members of the European Parliament’s PEGA Committee, named after the Israeli software Pegasus and investigating the use of spyware in the EU, welcomed the report by Sophie in ‘t Veld (Renew Europe, Dutch) presented on 8 November (see EUROPE 13059/20), which calls for a moratorium on the use of spyware in the EU and for a common legislative framework to determine the exceptional situations in which it can be used.
However, much of the discussion focused on the veracity of the facts presented by the MEP, who drew on numerous press reports and information provided by NGOs, with some EPP members calling for a report that is completely “credible, serious” and “indestructible”, as Slovak MEP Vladimír Bilčík put it.
Greek EPP MEP Eliza Vozemberg, whose country has been rocked by the Predator scandal, called for “hard evidence” without which it would be difficult to “draw conclusions”.
These positions were countered by other MEPs, including Ms in ‘t Veld herself, who ironically wondered how the European Parliament could, on the one hand, “sing the praises of investigative journalists, name a press room and a prize after Daphne Caruana Galizia” and, on the other hand, question their revelations.
Cornelia Ernst (The Left, German) said it was “a bit easy” to say “that it must be credible”. It is “obviously complicated when governments refuse to give information”. The German MEP believes that the PEGA Committee, with its various hearings and testimonies, has enough concrete information to achieve this credibility.
Judging that Spain is the country where “the use of spyware is the most intrusive”, the German also asked on Tuesday for a PEGA mission to be organised in the country.
Most of the other remarks concerned the selection of member countries, 17 of which were covered by the report, with Ms in ‘t Veld focusing on the situation in Greece, Spain, Poland, Hungary and Cyprus. Some MEPs, such as Greek MEP Eva Kaili (S&D) and French MEP Gilles Lebreton (ID), wanted all Member States to be covered so that future recommendations could be applied everywhere.
The Greek MEP also called for a more robust definition of spyware.
Other remarks concerned the need to better lay out the situation of spyware exported from the EU to non-democratic third countries, with some MEPs wanting the report to provide more detail on these aspects.
Mr Lebreton also wanted the rapporteur to reconsider the idea of a moratorium, which “would be like shooting yourself in the foot”, citing the case of terrorism, while the Greens/EFA group is calling for a general ban.
The rapporteur is planning for a vote in committee on 26 April. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)