In Strasbourg on the evening of Tuesday 27 February, a handful of MEPs condemned new revelations that members of the European Parliament had been bugged, in a brief debate that was not attended by the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council or the Commissioners responsible for spying and personal data protection.
On 22 February, Politico reported that the phones of two more MEPs had been spied on using the Pegasus software: France’s Nathalie Loiseau (Renew Europe), chairwoman of the European Parliament’s ‘Defence’ subcommittee, and Bulgaria’s Elena Yoncheva (S&D), also a member of this subcommittee.
On Tuesday evening, the European Parliament rapporteur of the former PEGA board of inquiry, Sophie in ‘t Veld (Renew Europe, Dutch), not only railed against the Commission and the EU Council, but also against her colleagues who had virtually deserted the Chamber.
Denouncing a “scandal”, the MEP accused the Commission, represented by Commissioner for Development Jutta Urpilainen, of having always been too weak with the Member States and of not having prevented them from spying on journalists.
Other MEPs from The Left and the Greens/EFA expressed their dismay at the lack of interest in this debate and the EU’s tolerance of this type of crime.
On behalf of the Commission, Jutta Urpilainen denounced “any illegal access” to users’ communications and devices, and any attempt to access the data of rapporteurs or their collaborators. She highlighted the Commission’s work to protect journalists’ communications and data with the ‘Media Act’, and pointed out that Member States must put in place democratic safeguards when spying is authorised for national security purposes, such as the fight against terrorism or organised crime.
In 2023, MEPs made a series of recommendations to the Commission to regulate the use of spyware and its export, but the Commission refused to propose legislative instruments (see EUROPE 13202/14, 13274/14). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)