A probe into a massive fraud in Greece involving hundreds of millions of EU cash is widening.
It now includes a former official from the ruling New Democracy party of PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
@balkanizator.bsky.social
Journalist - Researcher
A probe into a massive fraud in Greece involving hundreds of millions of EU cash is widening.
It now includes a former official from the ruling New Democracy party of PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Good morning, I've written a piece about the prime minister. I spoke to several dozen sources, including government insiders, former legal colleagues and campaigners to ask: what happened to Keir Starmer the heroic human rights lawyer? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
29.07.2025 06:27 — 👍 206 🔁 90 💬 17 📌 29This comes on the back of our latest investigation with @lolahierro.bsky.social and @balkanizator.bsky.social, revealing Europol's apparent refusal to delete/restrict using data of more than 11,000 people Frontex had unlawfully shared since 2016.
english.elpais.com/internationa...
Dänemark schlägt wieder eine weitreichende verpflichtende Chatkontrolle vor. Der Juristische Dienst des Rats bezeichnet auch diesen Vorschlag als rechtswidrig. Ob das Gesetz noch kommt, könnte von Deutschland und Frankreich abhängen. Wir veröffentlichen das Protokoll. netzpolitik.org/2025/interne...
30.07.2025 07:35 — 👍 38 🔁 11 💬 0 📌 0More evidence of Europol's apparent disregard for legal norms and boundaries - this time from Lesvos, where its officers appear to be behaving like secret intelligence agents, misusing Frontex activities to interrogate migrants.
28.07.2025 16:00 — 👍 9 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 0🚨 New investigation co-authored by our colleague @stavinoha.bsky.social: EU agencies #Frontex & #Europol unlawfully shared data, sweeping up migrants and #HumanRights defenders.
Published in @elpais.com, @lemonde.fr, Solomon, @netzpolitik.org
Read more: english.elpais.com/internationa...
Based on our investigation with @lolahierro.bsky.social and @balkanizator.bsky.social into years of unlawful personal data transfers between Frontex and Europol, under the guise of EU 'counter-smuggling' efforts.
english.elpais.com/internationa...
After publication 41 MEPs have called upon the European Commission to initiate an independent inquiry into large-scale unlawful transfers of personal data between Frontex and Europol due to the findings of the investigation @ @elpais.com , @lemonde.fr, @wearesolomon.bsky.social and @netzpolitik.org
14.07.2025 12:22 — 👍 6 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0We also reveal how in Nov 2022 the Commission, Frontex and Europol representatives misled parliamentarians during a hearing in the LIBE committee, by telling that transfers were not automatic and took place only on a case by case basis. netzpolitik.org/2025/gefluec...
14.07.2025 12:22 — 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0Frontex revised its protocols in May 2023. It is no longer passing data 'automatically'. But, crucially, Europol is refusing to confirm it will 'restrict' or 'delete' data - unlawfully shared by Frontex - as required by law.
www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decod...
Between 2016-2023, Frontex unlawfully shared the personal data of more than 13,000 'suspects' with Europol, via 'voluntary' interviews with newly arrived migrants that lack basic legal safeguards - branded by experts as 'covert interrogations'. english.elpais.com/internationa...
14.07.2025 12:22 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0For years Frontex gathered data and automatically passed it unlawfully to Europol. With @stavinoha.bsky.social & @lolahierro.bsky.social we investigated how this dragnet scooped up thousands of people, migrants and EU activists.
wearesolomon.com/mag/format/i...
Frontex suma una nueva ilegalidad a su larga lista: la filtración de datos personales.
Impulsamos una carta apoyada por decenas de eurodiputados, para exigir que se investiguen estos abusos y acabar con la criminalización de las personas migrantes y la sociedad civil
elpais.com/internaciona...
41 MEPs call upon the European Commission to initiate an independent inquiry into large-scale unlawful transfers of personal data between @frontex.bsky.social and @europol.europa.eu following our investigation for El Pais, Le Monde, Solomon, and Netzpolitik.
11.07.2025 13:28 — 👍 11 🔁 8 💬 1 📌 0I feel this scoop did not get all the attention it deserves yet:
12.07.2025 21:16 — 👍 31 🔁 18 💬 0 📌 0Great work by @stavinoha.bsky.social and @balkanizator.bsky.social shedding light on a widely overlooked (and unlawful) programme to feed Europol's database with data collected by Frontex, including those of activists and journalists.
11.07.2025 08:04 — 👍 3 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0For years, human rights advocates have warned of the criminalisation of migrants & activists at Europe’s borders.
With @balkanizator.bsky.social & @lolahierro.bsky.social we shed light on the opaque role of Frontex and Europol in drawing thousands into this dragnet.
wearesolomon.com/mag/format/i...
❗In the name of 'combating migrant smugglers', the European Union's border agency, Frontex, spent years collecting information on migrants and civil society activists deemed 'suspect,' before passing it on to Europol.
08.07.2025 08:32 — 👍 8 🔁 12 💬 0 📌 3Here is how #Frontex unlawfully shared thousands of people’s personal data with #Europol
Investigation conducted by Solomon, the French newspaper Le Monde, the Spanish newspaper El País, and the German outlet Netzpolitik.
wearesolomon.com/mag/format/i...
NEW: an investigation reveals that Frontex unlawfully shared thousands of people's data with Europol.
Frontex decided to label as “suspects” anyone mentioned during the "debriefing interviews" conducted at disembarkation points at EU’s borders.
🧵Why it matters
wearesolomon.com/mag/format/i...
Frontex transfirió durante años ilegalmente a Europol datos de migrantes y activistas
elpais.com/internaciona...
Eine Recherche belegt, wie unter dem Vorwand der Bekämpfung von »Menschenschmuggel« Migranten und Aktivisten kriminalisiert werden. Frontex gab dazu ohne Rechtsgrundlage Informationen von über 13 000 Personen an Europol.
07.07.2025 14:30 — 👍 29 🔁 11 💬 0 📌 1Frontex hat jahrelang personenbezogene Daten gesammelt und unrechtmäßig an Europol weitergeleitet. Tausende, darunter EU-Bürger:innen, die Geflüchtete unterstützen, gerieten durch groß angelegte „verdeckte Verhöre“ in ein wachsendes System der Kriminalisierung.
netzpolitik.org/2025/gefluec...
Frontex illegally shared thousands of people's personal data with European police
07.07.2025 14:13 — 👍 9 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0Con @balkanizator.bsky.social y @stavinoha.bsky.social publico hoy esta investigación en @elpais.com acerca de las prácticas ilícitas de @frontex.bsky.social en la obtención y el manejo de datos personales de migrantes y activistas. elpais.com/internaciona...
07.07.2025 13:48 — 👍 14 🔁 12 💬 1 📌 2You’ve seen the “don’t share this code with anyone” SMS messages when you log in to your most sensitive online accounts: banking, messaging, #Google , #Meta, #Amazon. But who else might have seen them before you?
16.06.2025 11:42 — 👍 5 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 0💥 Σήμερα η εφημερίδα Δημοκρατία αποκαλύπτει ότι οι δύο της Ομάδας Αλήθειας το 2015, όταν έκαναν «restart» της Ομάδας, ήταν μισθωτοί της ΝΔ κ αμέσως μετά πέρασαν μισθολογικά σε V+O & Blue Skies των Θ. Βαρβιτσιώτη & Γ. Ολύμπιου.
16.06.2025 11:45 — 👍 12 🔁 13 💬 2 📌 1I’ve spent a lot of time investigating shitty AI cynically used to pursue vulnerable people in welfare systems. When I talk about this work, I invariably get asked: is it possible to make these systems fair?
11.06.2025 19:00 — 👍 10 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0We are alarmed by Europol arrogating to itself the right to develop surveillance tools, which are likely to dramatically transform the landscape of policing across the EU, in almost complete secrecy. Yet, despite this opacity, political support for Europol is growing in Brussels and EU capitals.
19.05.2025 09:42 — 👍 12 🔁 14 💬 1 📌 1