Greece’s highest administrative court has overturned a €40,000 fine imposed on the ruling New Democracy party over a data breach that saw thousands of Greek expatriates receive unsolicited political emails ahead of the 2024 European elections. The Greek Council of State ruled that the country’s Data Protection Authority had failed to sufficiently justify the fine against the party, which had been accused of misusing personal data from a special electoral register. The leaked email addresses were subsequently used by former MEP and New Democracy candidate Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou in her re-election campaign.

While the party has now been cleared of wrongdoing, the fines against Asimakopoulou and two senior party officials – Nikos Theodoropoulos and Menios Koromilas – remain in force. Asimakopoulou faces a €40,000 penalty, while Theodoropoulos and Koromilas have each been fined €10,000 for their roles in the affair.

The controversy erupted last year when thousands of expat voters, many of whom had registered to vote by post, reported receiving direct campaign emails from Asimakopoulou without ever consenting to their data being used in this way. The breach was widely condemned as a violation of Europe’s strict data privacy laws under GDPR.

At the time, the Data Protection Authority also fined the Interior Ministry €400,000 for its part in the failure to safeguard personal data.

Lawyer Vasilis Sotiropoulos, who is representing a number of affected individuals, said his office had filed over 140 legal complaints on behalf of expats, with more expected to follow. The lawsuits seek compensation for emotional distress caused by the unauthorised use of personal data.

Asked whether she regretted using the personal data without permission, Asimakopoulou gave a defiant response:

“We live in a digital age – how else are we supposed to communicate?” she said. “What was I supposed to do? Take a megaphone and go to Australia to ask if there are any Greeks who want to vote for me?”

She remained unrepentant, claiming she had paid a “steep price” for the case and accused her critics of exploiting the situation to target the rulling New Democracy and PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Following the uproar, she was dropped from the party’s list of European Parliament candidates.

New Democracy has denied any involvement in the data leak, claiming it had no knowledge of how the email addresses were obtained or used.

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