A delegation of the Civil Liberties Committee will be in Athens on 6-8 March 2023, to take stock of issues and allegations relating to the state of EU values in Greece. The MEPs will arrive in Athens in the afternoon of Monday 6 March. During their fact-finding mission they intend to meet with the President of the Republic Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou, the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and senior members of the government. Several meetings have been arranged with representatives of state and independent authorities, such as the National Transparency Authority, the Data Protection Authority, the Authority for Communication Security and Privacy, the Greek Asylum Service and the Greek Intelligence Agency. The programme also includes meetings with journalists, NGOs and civil society (including the representatives of the family of journalist Giorgos Karaivaz); and the leadership of the Police and the EU border agency Frontex, as well as the EU Agency for Asylum. You can find here a detailed programme of the delegation. The MEPs travelling to Athens are: • Sophie IN ‘T VELD (RE, NL) (delegation Chair) • Katarina BARLEY (S and D, DE) • Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (Greens/EFA, FR) • Patricia CHAGNON (ID, FR) • Konstantinos ARVANITIS (The Left, EL) Press conference in Athens A press conference with the Chair of the EP delegation is scheduled for Wednesday 8 March in the European Parliament Liaison Office in Athens, around noon. It will be webstreamed, but journalists need to be physically present to ask questions. Media representatives who wish to attend the press conference must send an email to epathinai@europarl.europa.eu, stating their name and the media for which they work. More detailed information on how to attend or follow the press conference online will follow in due course. Background The fact-finding mission is organised under the remit of the Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) and in line with the DRFMG (working group on Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights) mandate. The aim of the mission is to take stock of the new developments in the country, and to continue the DRFMG work dedicated to the situation in Greece, with special focus on the situation of the rule of law, fight against corruption and media freedom
Source: Cyprus News Agency