European Parliament Demands Full, Effective Investigation in Spain

The European Parliament has once again asked Spain to conduct a “full and effective” investigation into the use of the Pegasus spyware against members of the government, including Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a scandal that strongly implicates the Moroccan Makhzen regime, according to media reports.

The European Parliament calls on Spain to “follow the recommendations approved on June 2023,” which stressed the conduct of a “full, fair and effective investigation” that clarifies all alleged cases of espionage with the use of Pegasus spyware (affiliated with the Zionist company NSO), including the 47 cases linked to the Catalan independence movement, in addition to what Sanchez and other members of the government were exposed to, in which it was confirmed that there were “clear indications” of Morocco’s involvement.

MEPs renewed their concern about the use of spyware programs, stressing that “this industry must be subject to strict regulation,” noting that this message was included in the report on the situation of basic human rights in the European Union, which was approved by 391 votes in favour, 130 against and 20 abstentions.

The recommendations approved last year called for the cooperation of the Spanish authorities to resolve the issue of alleged spying on the independence movement during the operation and the hacking of Sanchez’s mobile devices.

Regarding the regulatory framework for these spyware programs, the European Parliament indicated that Spain is committed to the conditions set by the European Union treaties, but asserted that it is waiting for the reform of the legal framework for the Spanish Intelligence Center (CNI) which was announced by the government amid controversy over the spying that targeted Catalan political leaders.

The European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (PEGA) which was established on March 2023, presented its findings in June of the same year, confirming the Moroccan Makhzen’s involvement in espionage and hacking the mobile phones of Pedro Sanchez, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles, and Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

The report, which was voted 30 in favour, 3 against and 4 abstentions, confirms that the data was taken from mobile phones on May 19, 2021, that is, at the height of the diplomatic crisis between Madrid and Rabat over the issue of Western Sahara, which confirms the suspicions related to the blackmail that the Makhzen system may have conducted against the Spanish government on this issue.

The issue of spyware programs came to the fore in particular after the successive revelations about the use of Pegasus, which was exported by the Zionist company NSO.

In July 2021, a coordinated investigation conducted by several media revealed a list of more than 50,000 names of people who may have been subjected to surveillance using Pegasus spyware, particularly by Morocco which is one of the countries that used this program.

These allegations have sparked scandals and legal actions in many countries, such as the creation of the European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware (PEGA).