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Greece's national intelligence service (EYP) cooperates with the U.S. and other countries in the battle against terrorism, Greek government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said on Tuesday evening amid claims of espionage and counter- espionage in Athens.
"EYP cooperates for years with the corresponding agencies in the U.S. and other countries to combat terrorism. Any further analysis and discussion regarding its mission is considered as undermining its work," Kedikoglou stressed in a statement issued by his office.
He added that Greek intelligence service protects national security respecting the Law, friends and allies.
The statement was a comment on the claim made earlier on Tuesday by former Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Theodoros Pangalos that EYP had spied on at least two U.S. ambassadors in the late '90s.
The government spokesman made no comment on Tuesday's news reports in Greek and German media that the American embassy in Athens houses a surveillance center.
"We didn't learn anything new...Anybody can monitor anybody... Greece's intelligence service (EYP) had managed to tap the phones of the U.S. ambassadors in Athens and Ankara during my term in office (late '90s)," Pangalos told a Greek radio program, when asked to comment on reports in Greek daily "Ta Nea" (The News) and German magazine Der Spiegel that the U.S. embassy in Athens is one of the US National Security Agency's (NSA) phone tapping centers.
Amid a furor caused recently by allegations that NSA has been spying on several leaders, officials and citizens worldwide, Der Spiegel cites NSA documents revealed by American intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden to back the claim.
Pangalos, who has served as Foreign Minister in the period 1996-1999 under a socialist government, downplayed the reactions of European governments, triggering more reactions in Greece after his allegations.
Main opposition Radical LeftSYRIZA party commented that Pangalos' statement "verifies SYRIZA's expressed concern for the shortcomings in the protection of confidentiality in telecommunications."
The moderate Left "Democratic Left" party which was participating in the ruling conservative-led ruling coalition until last June, called for a demarche to be made to the U.S.
