In its annual report on the rule of law, the European Union’s executive arm said judicial proceedings stemming from the surveillance affair are continuing, despite a series of recent court developments. The scandal, which has become one of Greece’s most politically sensitive controversies in recent years, centers on the use of Predator, a powerful commercial spyware tool capable of infiltrating mobile phones, and allegations that politicians, journalists and other public figures were targeted for surveillance.
The Commission noted that in February 2026, four people linked to the commercial distribution of Predator were convicted at first instance on misdemeanor charges, including violations of the confidentiality of communications and unauthorized access to data. The court also referred the case for further investigation into potentially more serious offenses and the possible involvement of additional individuals.
The ruling was welcomed by parties involved in the case as an important step forward, according to the Commission. The four defendants have appealed their convictions, with the appeal proceedings scheduled for December 2026.
The Commission’s report also highlighted a decision by Greece’s Supreme Court prosecutor in late April not to reopen a separate aspect of the case, after concluding that evidence submitted to prosecutors didn’t constitute new facts sufficient to warrant a fresh examination.
That decision prompted concern among journalists, surveillance victims, lawyers, opposition parties and civil-society groups, the Commission said. The report also referred to allegations of a potential conflict of interest involving Supreme Court prosecutor Achilleas Zisis Tzavellas, citing his previous role in overseeing Greece’s National Intelligence Service during the period at the center of the surveillance controversy.
The Commission said new requests to reopen parts of the case have since been filed, while separate prosecutorial investigations remain underway.
The affair is also being contested beyond Greece’s criminal courts. Separate cases remain pending before the country’s Council of State, its highest administrative court, and the European Court of Human Rights. Those proceedings raise broader questions about transparency and the Greek state’s obligations in connection with surveillance practices.
The Predator scandal has placed Greece’s institutions under sustained scrutiny, but its political significance goes directly to the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, under whose watch the surveillance operation unfolded and whose handling of the affair has left fundamental questions unanswered. Rather than delivering a full and transparent accounting of how politicians, journalists and other public figures came to be targeted, the Greek state has repeatedly faced accusations of obstructing efforts to uncover the full chain of responsibility behind the scandal. The European Commission’s latest assessment underscores the consequences of that failure: years after the first revelations, Greece still lacks definitive answers about who ordered the surveillance, who coordinated it and who ultimately benefited from it. For the Mitsotakis government, the unresolved Predator affair is no longer simply a lingering judicial controversy. It stands as a defining test of its own record on transparency, institutional accountability and the rule of law—and of whether a scandal that unfolded at the heart of the Greek state was ever genuinely investigated by the government responsible for answering for it.
