2. Uncle Sam comes knocking

The curious case of America enforcing European Rule of Law

Greece spying on US citizens

A dual citizen of Greece and the United States has been spied upon with Predator spyware, reports The New York Times. The  US usually does not take kindly to the rights of US citizens being violated, and it is no surprise that the FBI had already been spotted in Athens to investigate the matter. Although the Greek government vigorously denies ever having deployed spyware, the person had also been under surveillance by the Greek secret services. Everyone will draw their own conclusions.

The New York Times @nytimes

Artemis Seaford, a U.S.-Greek national and a manager at Meta, was wiretapped by Greece’s spy agency and targeted by hackers, according to officials and documents obtained by The New York Times. The case highlights the spread of illicit snooping in Europe.

nyti.msMeta Manager Was Hacked With Spyware and Wiretapped in GreeceArtemis Seaford, a dual U.S.-Greek national, was targeted with a cyberespionage tool while also under a wiretap by the Greek spy agency in a case that shows the spread of illicit snooping in Europe.

The reason why my ears prick up, when I hear about the US possibly intervening on European rule of law matters, is because this usually happens in the absence of EU action. When an EU member state is the perpetrator of a crime, there is barely a whisper of condemnation coming from the Berlaymont  - or from another member state government. And yes, using spyware against law-abiding citizens who pose no threat to national security is a crime. They may all be doing it, but that doesn’t make it legal.

EU member states have carved out a safe space for themselves, free from any kind of intrusion by the EU institutions. The old pact of keeping each other honest, as democratic law-abiding governments, is out the window. In the process, the EU Commission has been put on a leash. With that, the EU has lost both its historical mechanism for sticking to the path of democracy, as well as its prime enforcer of common rules and laws. 

We have reached a very high level of subservience form the Commission towards national governments. A level at which the former rarely acts against the latter anymore. No matter how clearly these countries trample upon fundamental EU rules and values. It took a decade for Poland and Hungary to get their EU subsidies squeezed, but only after the independent judiciary in Poland was already strangled and democracy in Hungary was severely degraded. And even then, it was the EU Parliament that put the pressure on. Each time the United States takes action where the EU Commission should have, this growing absence of enforcement becomes painfully visible. Yes, I think the Commission should act when a Greek-American citizen is targeted with Predator. No, I don’t think it will - but the US will instead, painfully exposing Europe’s weakness on the rule of law and the defence of its own values. 

The EU cannot continue like this. A key element of Europe’s success as a bastion of democracy, is that member states felt an external check on their power. From each other, and by proxy from the European Commission. This arrangement benefits citizens, businesses, journalists and everyone who legitimately needs some protection from the power of the state. Power without checks, slides into authoritarianism quickly. Let’s remember that.

News

Italian government tells Milan to stop registering same-sex couples' children - Reuters

Remember the elections that got Giorgia Meloni into the Palazzo Chigi? All the pundits saying she moved to the center in order to get elected? That she shaved off the sharp far-right edges a bit. Well, it did not take long for Meloni to show her true colours. First there was the intimidation of journalists, and now we have outright homophobic policies being deployed. Her government is moving fast - in the wrong direction.

Dutch pro-Farmers Party wins Big - Politico Europe

The Dutch provincial elections saw another newcomer party go from zero to becoming the biggest party in the Senate with 17 out of 75 seats. In 2014, the same happened with the extremist far-right FvD-party. That party now lost almost all their seats to other populist movements, including the pro-farmer BBB.

One populist party lost almost all seats, while another won. Because of that the shift is far less pronounced than the headlines suggest. Especially since parties on the left also won. The key issue is the deteriorating state of Dutch nature. Nitrogen deposits are suffocating all biodiversity, and a lot of it is coming from the millions of cows, pigs and chicken that are being raised on Dutch farms.

The Dutch government is pursuing a court-ordered reduction of the livestock population. If it bends the knee to this political newcomer, then a rule of law problem will arise. As well as a democracy problem, because will some parties in government throw away the votes of people who actually voted for the government?

Greece offering senior Israeli tech executives tax breaks to relocate - Times of Israel

Two of my most intensive activities have been around the abolition of ‘golden passports’ and around strictly curbing the (ab)use of spyware by EU governments. I am struck by how intertwined these subjects are. There is a murky world of illegality in which both subjects float, and EU governments are dipping their toes in it routinely.

Activities

·         13 April: Work visit to Maastricht, NL

·         26 April : Vote on the Pega Report

·         13 May: D66 Party Congress in Amsterdam, NL

·         25 May: State of the European Union debate in the Hague, NL

·         31 May : Equality and LGBTIQ rights across Africa and Europe event

·         3 July: Exhibition " The raft of the Medusa in the 21st century"

·         6 July: Roundtable “Search and Rescue"