Greece’s communications privacy watchdog has warned of a significant escalation in state surveillance without legal justification, with a 23% rise in phone interceptions recorded in 2024 and early 2025. According to the latest report by the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy (ADAE), these surge concers cases of surveillance that were carried out under the blanket justification of “national security,” by prosecutorial order rather than going through the judicial process that would normally require a clear justification for why a phone was being tapped.
In 2024 alone, such cases reached 8,262, compared to 6,727 the year before. Most were initiated by Greece’s Anti-Terrorism Service and the National Intelligence Service (EYP). By contrast wiretaps against organized crime, which require full judicial approval and documented justification, actually dropped by 8% over the same period.
The watchdog has urged sweeping reforms, calling for broader powers to inspect state agencies involved in monitoring, from data archives to technical equipment, and to seize or destroy unlawfully obtained information under court supervision. Without such safeguards, ADAE warned, the balance between public safety and citizens’ right to privacy risks being undermined.
ADAE and its tense ties with government
Established in 2003, ADAE has been tasked with safeguarding the confidentiality of communications and the security of networks in Greece. However since the outbreak of the Predator scandal, its relationship with the government has been fraught.
The former president of ADAE, who resigned in June after the completion of his six-year term, judge Christos Rammos, became a particularly thorny figure for the government. During his tenure, he repeatedly clashed with political authorities over attempts to curb the watchdog’s independence. In 2023, as revelations about surveillance mounted, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis personally accused Rammos of pursuing “an agenda.” A visibly emotional Rammos rejected the accusation, calling it a “character assassination” aimed at silencing him for doing his job.
In interviews after his resignation in the summer of 2025, Rammos described government efforts to weaken ADAE through underfunding, staff shortages, and even the late-night replacement of its board members on the eve of key decisions that could have penalized EYP. He also criticized the thousands of wiretap orders issued without proper justification, despite European legal standards requiring clear reasoning for such measures.
A trend hard to ignore
Greek security officials attribute the recent spike in interceptions to concerns about domestic extremist groups and suspected Islamist activity, including communications within prisons. But ADAE’s data shows that such explanations fall short of accounting for the dramatic rise.
The broader trend is clear: while the fallout from Predatorgate temporarily reduced wiretapping in 2023, the numbers are climbing again. National security exemptions are now invoked more frequently than ever, with thousands of cases lacking transparent justification.
