Any escalation at this time would be a major threat for regional stability and security warned the Kyriakos Mitsotakis during his meeting in the morning at Megaros Maximos with the vice-president of the European Commission, responsible for Values ​​and Transparency, Vera Jourova.

“We continue to stand by Israel, but at the same time we urge all sides to show the necessary restraintso as to avoid a potentially very dangerous further escalation” pointed out the Prime Minister.

The statements of the Prime Minister and the Vice-President of the European Commission in detail:

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: It is always my pleasure to welcome you to Athens, dear Viera. You are coming at a time of significant geopolitical turmoil in the region. Let me reiterate that we unequivocally condemn the attacks launched by Iran against Israel. Any escalation at this time would be a key threat to regional stability and security. We continue to stand by Israel, but at the same time we urge all sides to show the necessary restraint to avoid a potentially very dangerous further escalation.

Now, on our own issues, we are less than two months before the European elections and I would like to thank you for the determination you have shown in highlighting the importance of protecting the integrity of the electoral process. I would like to remind you that we were also together at the Munich Security Conference, stressing the need for increased vigilance at a time when many actors with malicious interests would like to interfere in our electoral process. This is an issue that I have also raised at the level of the European Council and I hope that in the conclusions of the next Council we will have at least one reference to the risk posed by disinformation, and in particular to the emerging risk of deep fakes.

Thank you very much for the work you are also doing in this direction. Of course, as you know, on rule of law issues, we continue to have an excellent partnership. I believe that significant progress has been made, which is also recognized by the European Commission. We always take the recommendations of the annual rule of law report very seriously and try to comply as best we can. But I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made, and our teams are always on hand to look into the details of the issues you’ve raised and ensure we respond to the best of our ability. So again, thank you very much and welcome you once again to Athens.

Vera Jourova: Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister, and on behalf of my team. It is a great pleasure and honor that you invite me again here, in your place. I would like to start by congratulating you on the decisive victory in the electionswhich allows me to continue our dialogue today.

I thank you too, for your contribution to the Munich Agreement against deep fakes used in election campaigns. I think it was a good moment that we had in Munich with the big tech companies, because their approach – we can’t do otherwise – is nerve-wracking and affects whether we will see free and fair elections and an election campaign that will allow citizens to vote autonomously or whether we will have an election campaign full of hidden manipulations. Certainly, we believe the former. I also appeal to European political parties to avoid the use of deep fakes.

Indeed, last time we had a very good discussion. We are also continuing a very good and fruitful discussion with your Ministers on the rule of law issues. You mentioned the report on the rule of law. We are now preparing the version to be published in early July. I want to highlight her very good cooperation we have with the Greek authorities. You know that all four subjects we cover in the rule of law report are essential to our democratic systems, whether it is the judiciary and the prosecution stage, the legislative process, the state of the media, the fight against of corruption and overall the system of institutional controls. This is a very important set of factors or areas that we would like to see working well in all Member States.

As you know, the report on the rule of law is a joint project. This is not a unilateral assessment of Brussels. It’s something we do together. Once again, thank you very much for the steps you are taking to implement the recommendations, the ongoing reforms in the area of ​​justice and the fight against corruption. I will speak to your media task force today to find out what has been done to protect journalists, but I will also have the opportunity to discuss how the new media protection rules will be best implemented in Greece.

I will also be speaking to the authorities and bodies charged with implementing the Digital Services Act and in the future the Media Freedom Act, with the aim of tackling foreign propaganda – it may be Russian, but there are other actors trying to influence our information space. I hope, rather I am sure, that I will have a full and productive day in Greece, in Athens today. The result will be very important to understand Greece’s readiness for the upcoming European elections. Of course, we are discussing during my democracy tour in the Member States for the European elections, but it is important to shield this system for every electoral contest.

I would add that we are fully aware that the organization of elections is entirely the responsibility of the Member States. I come to the Member States expressing my availability to contribute, in case there is any difficulty, in communicating with the big technology companies. I can help, I can bridge the communication. I can be the messenger, because what I hear from the platforms is that sometimes they don’t understand the sensitivitieswhich may influence by filling the information space in each state. The answer they always give us when I criticize them is that they don’t do proper content moderation in all 24 languages ​​of the member states. Their answer is always that “we would like to have some closer contact with the bodies, with the individuals, with the citizens in each member state who could help us distinguish what is information, what is just hate speech, and we moderate content appropriately.”

Mitsotakis

Needless to say, for the European Commission, it is always important that content moderation does not kill freedom of speech. We only focus on illegal content, child pornography, hate speech, terrorism. In the case of disinformation, we always focus, or want them to focus, on misinformation that may endanger security or some other public interest. This is the minimum we need to insist they should do under the Digital Services Act. I already mentioned artificial intelligence and the need to prepare for a greater impact of artificial intelligence in every aspect of our lives. Here, I believe we also have a good scope for cooperation.

Last comment, maybe two last comments. Last time we discussed the use of spyware, which concerns many member states. I promise you two things: that we will include the use of spyware in the Member States in our report on the rule of law, so that you have a better idea of ​​how big the problem is. The second is that we will issue a legal opinion on the use of spyware by public authorities, but also by private entities. This is in the works. I intend to deliver the opinion during this term.

Note that I don’t have much time. Today, I am taking over Mr. Reynders’ portfolio. It will be my primary responsibility to complete the process. I remember promising you, not only you, but several other prime ministers, that we will provide the legal opinion and also respond to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice to fully clarify what the legal requirements are for any use of the eavesdropping software (spywares).

Last comment, rather a question or appeal: we still have the Package of Measures for the Defense of Democracy in progress (Defence of Democracy Package), which he plans, proposes the creation of a public register of contracts, which companies operating in the European market have concluded with third country governments. Contracts under which companies in the single market undertake to do some sort of lobbying or to influence public opinion and political decision-making processes.

This Directive is now in the legislative process. The Belgian Presidency has promised or indicated that there may even be a general approach in June. I would like to ask that you support this legislative initiative because we believe that we need to know more about such contracts, about such contacts, about such foreign influences in the decision-making process, especially after the revelation of the cases of European politicians allegedly financed by the Russians, which came to light two weeks ago by the Czech and Polish secret services. I believe the time has come to demand more information about such conventions and attempts from these countries. That was the update from my end.

Once more, thank you very much for the very good cooperation in all different areasparticularly in the area of ​​the rule of law, and I just want to express the hope that it will continue in the future, perhaps during the next term, whoever takes over this portfolio.