SYRIZA: ‘Mr Economou continues his self-ridiculousness with leaks about the alleged reconstruction of Politico’

“Today we watched the miserable, highly hypocritical lecture that Mr. Oikonomou gave on the freedom of the press that reaches up to the Ancient Secretariat, desperately trying to support the Government that has dragged Greece internationally”, emphasizes SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance in a statement , attacking the deputy minister rather than the Prime Minister and government representative.

“He tried unsuccessfully to disguise the absolute support that Politico expressed in its statement in yesterday’s article and its correspondent, in the face of her immoral targeting.

It is obvious to anyone who read today’s Politico Playbook that there is absolutely no rehabilitating his position on the Permanent Representative’s letter.

The only point that Politico clarifies is that “according to the Greek government” the Androulakis connection was legal.

First, in clear contradiction to what Mr. Economou said, Politico not only does not disassociate the Predator case from that of wiretapping, but once again uses the term “predatorgate” to refer to the scandal and the debate that will take place in parliament on Friday (“A political leaders’ debate on Predatorgate will take place in Athens on Friday”).

Second, nowhere does Politico redact anything about its references to the Permanent Representative’s letter yesterday.

Nowhere does it repeat that with this letter the Government:

– praises the “political media” that highlighted the case,
– discourages written correspondence and calls on the competent European authorities to talk in person with the Permanent Representative on any issue that arises and
– essentially asking the EU to “Butt out”.

All that today’s playbook points out is that the Government has released the letter, which it says “confirms yesterday’s Politico report” and posthumously notes that it “categorically denies any involvement with Predator and states (in the present tense) that it is at the disposal of the Commission for the confirmation of the facts”.
(“The government categorically denies any connection to the Predator spyware scandal and says it stands at the Commission’s disposal to check and ascertain facts.”)

At the same time, the MEP and member of the Executive Committee on spyware, Sophie in ‘t Veld categorically and by name answers the Permanent Representative that the issue of wiretapping is included in EU competences, a fact which he disputes in his letter.

Third, after Politico’s outcry and response, Mr. Economou half-heartedly tries to mitigate the negative impressions created by yesterday’s targeting of Politico’s correspondent (“she was said to be an exaggeration”, “she does not separate her personal assessments from the Facts”). In this way and by naming the journalist, it gives the signal to the ND propaganda apparatus to continue the attack, confirming the extreme regime and the way the government of the 108th country perceives freedom of the press,” concludes Koumoundourou.