Debate: Use of the Pegasus Software by EU Member States against individuals including MEPs and the violation of fundamental rights
Date: WEDNESDAY, 4 MAY 2022
Speaker: Johannes Hahn
Language: EN

The Commission has already had the opportunity to state on numerous occasions that we strongly condemn any illegal access to interpersonal communications. Member States are competent to guarantee their national security, but when doing so they must apply relevant EU law, including the case law of the European Court.  In addition, Member States must supervise and control their security services to ensure that they fully respect Union law, including fundamental rights such as the protection of personal data, the safety of journalists and freedom of expression. In this respect, robust institutional checks, but maybe also international checks, and balances need to guarantee the functioning, cooperation and mutual control of state organs so that power is exercised by one state authority under the scrutiny of others.  This is precisely the criterion that should apply to determine whether any illegal activity could be taking place, such as the illegal use of a spyware to access data of citizens. Some governments may have themselves been subject to the illegal access to their communications. The investigation of such issues is the responsibility of each Member State.  Indeed, the Commission is not best placed here to investigate individual cases. The Commission expects national authorities to thoroughly examine any such allegations and to restore citizens’ trust. I also wish to recall that the EU has a strong legal framework for data protection and privacy. The privacy and electronic communications, the so—called e—Privacy Directive, prohibits taping, recording, storing or other types of interception or monitoring of communications by other persons than the user.  The adoption of a new e-privacy regulation will further strengthen the provisions of the e-privacy directive. Moreover, the Directive on attacks against information systems requires Member States to ensure that illegal system access and illegal interception are punishable as a criminal offence, in their national criminal law.  Finally, any processing by public law enforcement authorities falls under the scope of the Law Enforcement Directive and, in certain cases, the General Data Protection Regulation may also apply. This framework must be fully respected, and supervisory authorities and national experts have an important role to play in this respect. The Commission expects that they will make full use of all the powers.  Last, but not least, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union and the European Convention of Human Rights protect freedom of speech, in particular as regards journalists. The use of Pegasus constitutes a very serious interference with freedom of speech. Such an interference is only allowed if its duly justified and proportionate.  For its part, the Commission is collecting information on the use of Pegasus. The Commission is also following with great interest the activities of this Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry on this issue. The discussions and presentations at its meeting on 19 April clearly show the importance of the issues in many Member States. The Commission is ready to contribute to the activities of this committee and looks forward to its conclusions.