Greece’s data watchdog investigates MEP’s mass emails to voters abroad

Greece’s independent Data Protection Authority has launched an investigation after numerous Greek voters living abroad complained that centre-right MEP Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou (EPP) sent them pre-election emails without their consent.

The issue has sparked an intense debate in Greece, considering that postal voting will be applied for the first time in the EU elections in June.

Read more: Greece to test postal voting in EU elections for the first time

In an email on 1 March, New Democracy MEP Asimakopoulou (EPP) called on voters abroad to subscribe to her newsletter, informing them about her activities “100 days before the EU elections”.

The MEP’s email also allows recipients to “unsubscribe”.

On the same day, though, voters living abroad received another email from the Greek Ministry of Domestic Affairs – responsible for the elections’ organisation – informing them about how to vote.

The author of this article, a Greek national living in Brussels, also received on 1 March at his personal address first an email from Asimakopoulou, which ended up in junk at 7:59 AM and then from the Ministry of Domestic Affairs at 12:15 PM.

Following the emails, social media were flooded with complaints that recipients never consented to receive these emails, while many wondered how Asimakopoulou accessed their personal email addresses.

Opposition parties said the MEP’s act breaches the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and asked whether the Domestic Affairs Ministry provided her with the voters’ personal data.

The ministry replied two days later, saying, “It does not provide e-mail addresses of voters to candidates or parties, as provided by current legislation”.

Asimakopoulou denied that she got the email addresses from the ministry and instead noted that she personally collected this data during her five-year term as an EU lawmaker.

Politically, the issue may cause turmoil in the ruling New Democracy party.

Asimakopoulou is considered a close ally of former prime minister Antonis Samaras, a heavyweight conservative politician whose relations with current Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis are not at their best.

Samaras and his conservative faction recently broke the party line on a same-sex marriage vote, while in foreign matters, he often criticises Mitsotakis’ openness toward Turkey in an ongoing dialogue between the two countries to sort out their bilateral disagreements.

(Sarantis Michalopoulos | Euractiv.com)