Greece rejects EU media freedom resolution

Greece on Thursday dismissed as "mudslinging" and "slander" a European Parliament resolution decrying a hostile media environment in the country which the body said poses a "very serious" threat to EU values.

The parliament said the resolution adopted on Tuesday noted a "hostile environment for media and journalists, spyware, corruption and the use of force by the police" and said the EU commission should accordingly assess the future disbursement of bloc funds.

"Greece is being slandered," government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis told reporters.

"The aim is to reduce the prestige of Greece's success in recent years."

The resolution expressed "grave concerns about very serious threats to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in the country."

Marinakis branded the move a "political ploy" against the centre-right multi-country European People's Party ahead of European Parliament elections in June.

The resolution said journalists in Greece faced physical threats and verbal attacks, including from high-ranking politicians, and abusive lawsuits.

It cited a lack of progress in the investigation into the murder of Greek crime journalist George Karaivaz in April 2021.

In November, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Greece was effectively sabotaging a probe into a months-long wiretap scandal implicating the prime minister's own office.

"The investigation is at a complete standstill and Greek institutions seem determined not to let it progress," it said.

A number of ministers and other officials were revealed in 2022 to have been under surveillance by state intelligence -- which is supervised by the prime minister's office.

At least 11 people including the prosecutor of the state intelligence agency EYP and the head of Greek police were also targeted with the Predator malware, a media investigation including French online newspaper Mediapart, German magazine Der Spiegel and Greek site Reporters United said in November.

The European Parliament resolution also pointed to the excessive use of force by police and the deficient quality of subsequent investigations and court rulings, alleged corruption, the length of judicial proceedings, and possible conflicts of interest, including police infiltration by organised crime.

MEPs said they suspected a lack of political impartiality in a parliamentary inquiry into Greece's worst train disaster in February 2023 that left 57 dead.

They said there was mistreatment of migrants, "systematic" pushbacks and judicial harassment against human rights activists.