By Penelope Galliou

The Personal Data Protection Authority took the “baton” of the audit in order to solve the puzzle that arose after the mass sending of e-mails by the ND MEP Annas Michel Asimakopoulouto expatriate Greeks, without their consent, as appears from related complaints.

After the complaints, as well as the raising of the issue by both SYRIZA and PASOK, which brought the issue to the Parliament by first submitting a relevant question and a request to submit documents to the Minister of the Interior, the Personal Data Protection Authority announced that it had launched the conduct an investigation into the matter. “In response to questions raised by the Mass Media regarding the alleged sending of unsolicited electronic communications by an MEP to expatriate Greeks ahead of the European Elections, the Authority announces that, following the submission of a large number of relevant complaints, it has immediately initiated a process to examine the issue,” he said in a statement while Mrs. Asimakopoulou welcomed the investigation. “The investigation by the APDPH of the matter concerning the sending of informative emails from my office is welcomed by me. I will cooperate with the Authority in whatever is asked of me in order to reveal the truth” she wrote in her post.

In fact, the New Democracy MEP, it is expected that he will be immediately called to submit all the relevant details about where he found the specific e-mails of the emigrantswhile it is possible for the Personal Data Protection Authority to also order a technical check on the computers from which the e-mails were sent to their recipients.

Under these circumstances, the government keeps a clear distance, and for the opposition’s questions, whether the information was given to Mrs. Asimakopoulou by the Ministry of the Interior, it refers to the answer of the G.G. of Interior and Organization, Athanasios Balerba, who clarified that the Ministry of Interior does not provide e-mail addresses of voters to candidates or parties, as provided by the current legislation. Regarding the control of the MEP, it refers to the competent independent authority, in this case the Personal Data Protection Authority. “The Government is letting the Independent Authorities do their job. And already the relevant Independent Authority has stepped in and said it will do what it does in all cases. It doesn’t mean that because a case is reviewed, that case will be found to have something second,” remarked the government spokesman in a briefing to political editors.

However, the issue has already taken on political dimensions, as well all opposition partiesafter the incident which was admitted but justified by Mrs. Asimakopoulou, express concern about whether there is institutional shielding regarding personal data from the Ministry of the Interior, while the issue becomes even more heated when it is connected to the upcoming European elections and the postal vote.

An issue that the government tried to close through the government representative, Pavlos Marinakis, who accused SYRIZA of instrumentalizing the issue, risking a process which is very important for our country. “The postal vote is not a party campaign. It is not a New Democracy campaign. The postal vote is a historical intersection that facilitates both Greeks abroad and voters inside Greece,” commented Mr. Marinakis, clarifying that the case of Ms. Asimakopoulou “has nothing to do with the immutability of postal voting”. He also added that “it is a real shame, in the context of the need for some to make an Opposition for whatever reason, to try to set fire to or call into question a top process – which follows all the protocols that are followed in the rest of the countries of Europe and the stricter filters – which is the postal voting process”.