BRUSSELS, November 8. /TASS/. The widespread abuse of spyware in EU countries is threatening democracy while those responsible for it "sit on the European Council," Dutch representative of the European Parliament Sophie in 't Veld said on Tuesday at a press conference in Brussels, presenting the preliminary results of her team's investigation into a scandal involving the use of spyware to illegally snoop on EU citizens.
"The abuse of spyware in EU member states is a grave threat to democracy on the entire continent," she said. "It silences opposition and critics, eliminates scrutiny, and it has a chilling effect on free press and civil society. It serves to manipulate elections," the legislator explained. "Perpetrators, on the other hand, also sit on the European Council," she asserted.
She stressed that the entire system of development, production, distribution and use of spyware was "entirely a European matter" and was beyond any public control.
"All [EU] member states have spyware at their disposal, all of them, even if they don’t admit it, they do," the lawmaker said, "So, they all play a role. Cyprus and Bulgaria [are] export hubs, Luxembourg is where spyware vendors do their financial business, Ireland offers fiscal conditions which are attractive, Malta, interestingly, seems to be a comfortable home to spyware bosses with golden passports and letterbox companies. Italy, France and Austria are home to some important manufacturers and vendors of spyware. The Czech Republic hosts every year the big fair, the spyware fair, also referred to as the Wiretappers’ Ball. The Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium have <…> more or less admitted that their police forces are using it [the spyware], although not entirely." Among the countries most widely using spyware against their citizens, Sophie in 't Veld listed Hungary, Greece, Spain and Cyprus.