Citing “mounting evidence” that Pegasus spyware has been used for illegitimate purposes by several Council of Europe member states, on Wednesday 11 October the Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution urging Poland, Hungary, Greece, Spain and Azerbaijan to investigate potential abuses, compensate victims and inform the Venice Commission within 3 months about the use of Pegasus or similar software.
Based on the report by Dutch Pieter Omtzigt (EPP) and adopted by 91 votes to 16 with 4 abstentions, the resolution also calls on the other Member States that have used or acquired Pegasus - notably Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands - to clarify within 3 months the use they intend to make of it and the mechanisms put in place to supervise it.
As soon as the resolution is adopted, “I will immediately send letters to the delegations concerned as a first follow-up action”, announced Pieter Omtzigt at the start of the debates.
The rapporteur referred to the “really good investigation” by the PEGA committee set up by the European Parliament in March 2022.
“But”, he added, “the EU has limited powers in the field of national security”, whereas the Council of Europe’s surveillance concerns respect for the values of the rule of law and human rights, which are seriously flouted by the degree of intrusion of this spyware.
“So we are the organisation which should do it. Not the European Union”, concluded Mr Omtzigt.
In another text, also adopted, the Assembly calls for a recommendation from the Committee of Ministers to the Member States of the Council of Europe on the acquisition, use, sale and export of spyware.
The Assembly also raised the question of a future Council of Europe Convention on these subjects.
Link to the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/90o
Link to the recommendation: https://aeur.eu/f/90p (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)