The European Commission has received complaints from Greek voters abroad that ND MEP Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou obtained their personal data without them having provided it or having given their consent to its use for communication purposes and which may be in possession only of the Ministry of Interior of Greece. In relation to the case, the Parliamentary Group of the KKE submitted to the European Commission an urgent question on the leakage of personal data of Greeks abroad and on the integrity of the European elections.
The governing MEP denies the accusations and claims that everything was done legally.
As the MEPs of the Party Kostas Papadakis and Lefteris Nikolaou – Alavanos state in their question, there are hundreds of complaints from Greek emigrant voters who received a propaganda pre-election email from the ND MEP and member of the European People’s Party, Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou. They point out that many big questions arise regarding the inviolability of the upcoming European elections, through the postal voting process, as well as the content of the relevant EU regulations, both for personal data and for political advertising.
Among other things, they point out that the e-mail was sent to Greek voters who had registered on the postal voting platform that opened a few days ago, as well as on the special voter lists for the past national elections, as they themselves complain. In fact, the recipients of the MEP’s message also received an informative e-mail from the Ministry of the Interior about the postal vote a few minutes later.
According to the KKE MEPs, “reasonable and unanswered questions arise as to how and under what circumstances the government MEP obtained the e-mail addresses that only the competent services of the Ministry of the Interior should possess.”
Thus, on Monday, March 4, 2024, KKE MEPs Kostas Papadakis and Lefteris Nikolaou – Alavanos submitted an urgent question to the European Commission/Commission calling on it to respond on the matter. They asked the following questions:
“How the European Commission is positioned
– Regarding the complaints of Greek voters abroad that the MEP obtained their personal data without them having provided it or having consented to its use for communication purposes and which can only be in the possession of the Ministry of the Interior, raising big questions about the regardless of the upcoming European elections as well as the great risks posed by the whole process of the so-called postal vote, the implementation of which leads to such practices?
– Regarding the fact that the above case documents that the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as the recent Regulation on Political Advertising, not only do not ensure the protection of personal data, but instead were created to support a profitable data market, as well as the legalization of their mass collection, processing and transmission, between government agencies and mechanisms, business groups, for commercial and political exploitation?”
It is worth noting that ND MEP Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou does not accept the complaints. In a post she made on her personal account on X (formerly Twitter), Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou speaks of a “mud attack”.
Regarding the “mud attack” I have been receiving since this morning, I want to clarify that:
100 days before the European elections, my office sent a newsletter to Greeks abroad, with contact information that I collected as an MEP during the last 5 years, so that…
— Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou MEP (@AnnaAsimakopoul) March 1, 2024
And it clarifies that:
“100 days before the European elections, my office sent a newsletter to Greeks abroad, with contact information that I collected as an MEP during the last 5 years, in order to ask for permission to communicate with them regularly, as I always do, respecting personal data and the GDPR from 2018.
I have never received personal data from the Ministry of the Interior or any other government body concerning Greeks abroad. Conspiracy theories that associate the registrations for the postal vote with my personal action, are intended to use me to attack the institution of the postal vote, the institutional reform that was finally established in the Greek Parliament only with the support of the New Democracy.
I do not hesitate and invite Greeks abroad, regardless of party affiliation, to register on the epistoliki.ypes.gov.gr platform »
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