The newly established Inquiry Committee on the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware starts its work. The committee will consider alleged breaches of EU law in the use of spyware by, among others, Hungary and Poland.

Brussels

meeting

fight against cyber attacks (T)

LENAERS, Jeroen (EPP, NL)

IN 'T VELD, Sophia (Renew, NL)

HALICKI, Andrzej (EPP, PL)

HEIDE, Hannes (S&D, AT)

RIBA I GINER, Diana (Greens/EFA, ES)

BRICMONT, Saskia (Greens/EFA, BE)

RÓNAI, Sándor (S&D, HU)

KÖRNER, Moritz (Renew, DE)

Committee of inquiry to investigate the use of the Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware

Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (PEGA): atmosphere shots of the constitutive meeting and statement

Ambiance shots in the room prior to the election of the Chair and the Vice-Chairs (5 shots)

Opening remark by  by Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew,NL) proceeding to the election of the Chair

SOUNDBITE (English), Andrzej HALICKI (EPP, PL), Introducing Jeroen Lenaers as candidate for the Chairmanship of the PEGA Committee

Jeroen LENAERS (EPP,NL) going to the Chair desk, handshake with Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew,NL)

SOUNDBITE (English), Jeroen LENAERS (EPP, NL), .....

SOUNDBITE (English), Hannes HEIDE (S&amp;D, AT), Presenting S&aacute;ndor R&Oacute;NAI (S&amp;D,HU) as candidate to be first Vice-President

S&aacute;ndor R&Oacute;NAI (S&amp;D,HU) accepting the nomination

Saskia BRICMONT (Greens/EFA,BE) proposing Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA,ES) as 2nd Vice-Chair

Diana RIBA I GINER (Greens/EFA,ES) accepting the nomination - applaus

Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew,NL) proposing Moritz K&Ouml;RNER (Renew,DE) as candidate for the possiton of 3rd Vice-President

Moritz K&Ouml;RNER (Renew,DE) accepting the nomination - applaus

SOUNDBITE (English), Jeroen LENAERS (EPP, NL), I think it's very important that we have this new committee of inquiry to look into the use of spyware like Pegasus, but also equivalent spyware in Europe against journalists, against politicians, against lawyers, prosecutors. We've seen many examples where innocent people have had their phones hacked, most likely by also European governments, which is a huge problem when it comes to rule of law, democracy, the freedom to express yourself. And it's something that definitely needs to be investigated and this is what we will do in the next year.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jeroen LENAERS (EPP, NL), The mandate of our committee is very clear. We are going to look at Pegasus, which is from the Israeli and its own company, but also equivalent spyware because we see many other comparable spyware software that is being used to target, certain groups of people in society. And it's important that we look at the whole picture. So that includes every kind of spyware that is used to target lawyers, politicians, journalists, etc.. 

SOUNDBITE (English), Jeroen LENAERS (EPP, NL), First of all, we need to have the facts clear, so the first thing we'll do, we have 12 months time we will organize hearings, fact-finding missions, exchanges of views with experts, journalists, people who discovered the scandal to make sure we have all the information that we need in order to make recommendations to the Commission, to ourselves, to the member states to make sure that within the European Union, there can be no such thing as being targeted as an innocent citizen by this kind of spyware.