The Prime Minister’s statement that the investigative committee in the surveillance case “obviously will act in conditions determined by the nature of the object under investigation” essentially refers to the provision of the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure (Article 43A) on institutions and the Transparency Committee, which “belongs to parliamentary control over matters relating to the activities of the National Intelligence Service. The position is clear: “Discussions of the activities of the National Intelligence Service are confidential, and its employees are required to maintain such confidentiality even after the end of their term of office.” With the exception of the Equipment Committee, members of the national delegation participating in special committees, especially examination committees, have always been famous for maintaining confidentiality.

Combination

The combination of the two committees (institutions and investigations) also refers to the aspect raised by Evangelos Venizelos: the possibility granted by the Rules of Procedure of Parliament to institutions to function as a special investigation and inter alia to request oral or written information from public authorities, administrations of legal entities public and private rights, to request documents held in the state archives, to call and interrogate witnesses, to perform an autopsy or order an expert opinion and issue, signed by the President (Committee on Institutions), “warrants for the” forced extradition “of witnesses.

and Polakis

The President of the Committee of Institutions is Ath. Since the opposition parties, already from the previous investigation requested by SYRIZA regarding media funding and elections, demand the formation of committees with a representative president and not with members only from the ruling majority, it is possible that they will move in this direction, i.e. towards turning institutions into exams. It should be noted that P. Polakis also participates in the current composition of the Institutions Committee.

Activation of sakellarids?

The recent “activation” of Gabriel Sakellaridis on social media has not gone unnoticed. He was not used to getting involved after he stepped down as MP in November 2015. He did so first with Lignadis, but on the subject of surveillance, he never ceases to attack the government. He first stated that “throwing the ball into the stands would be the most ridiculous thing to do” and then congratulated “investigative journalism that has shed light on this issue.” Let’s see if the former representative of the SYRIZA government will continue.