Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is among the European leaders who have been awarded by newspaper POLITICO and its 2023 Backhanded Awards.
The ‘Lives of Others’ spying award – Winner: Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Not many leaders could survive revelations that their government’s secret service tried to spy on the opposition and journalists. But Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is not just any politician.
The scion of a Cretan political dynasty, the Harvard-educated Mitsotakis, leader of Greece’s conservative New Democracy party, not only managed to pour water on the scandal, known as “Predatorgate” — he won reelection in the process, claiming innocence.
The Predator spy software that gave the affair its name puts a victim’s mobile phone at the mercy of its attackers, giving them full access to the device. It’s not the type of application one can buy in the App Store. Just how Predator ended up on nearly 100 devices in Greece, most belonging to high-ranking government officials, businesspeople and journalists, remains a mystery that may never be solved.
Last month, Greek authorities launched a criminal inquiry into board members of the independent watchdog charged with investigating the Predator affair, alleging that officials there leaked classified information.
Read about the other winners in POLITICO.eu
