Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou

It was not only former New Democracy MEP Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou who, ahead of the European elections last June, sent mass emails to Greek expatriates after a data leak from the Ministry of Interior’s emigrants’ registry.

Greece's Personal Data Protection Authority (PDPA) on Tuesday imposed a 40,000-euro fine on the ruling New Democracy (ND) party for not taking adequate measures to protect the personal data of hundreds of Greeks living abroad following an investigation into the "email-gate" scandal.

Former New Democracy MEP Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou has appealed a €40,000 fine imposed by the Data Protection Authority over the "email-gate" controversy.

The case involves allegations of unauthorized access to expatriate Greek voters' data before the 2024 European elections.

Opposition parties are demanding the resignation of Interior Minister Niki Kerameus following the outcome of Greece's Personal Data Protection Authority (PDPA) investigation into unsolicited emails sent to the Greek diaspora ahead of the European elections. 

Greece's Personal Data Protection Authority (PDPA) on Monday imposed a 400,000-euro fine on the Ministry of Interior and a 40,000-euro fine on New Democracy MEP Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou for their respective roles in violating data protection regulations.

The email addresses of thousands of Greek voters abroad were leaked between May and June 2023, an Interior Ministry internal audit has found.

The inquiry was ordered after New Democracy MEP Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou sent a mass email to Greeks abroad as part of her re-election campaign in June's European elections. She since withdrew her candidacy.

The Interior Ministry's Internal Control Unit is poised to unveil its findings regarding the leaked emails of Greek voters abroad, declared Deputy Minister of Interior, Theodoros Livanios.

A New Democracy MEP who earlier this month said she would not be contesting in the upcoming European Parliament elections following allegations that she violated data protection regulations by sending a mass email to Greek voters living overseas has said that she received the email addresses from a party colleague in late January 2024.

Two conservative officials resigned and one was ousted on Friday amid a scandal involving the leak of an unspecified number of email addresses of Greek voters residing abroad.

The socialist opposition party PASOK reacted on Friday to the scandal involving the unauthorized release of official voter registration data from the Interior Ministry, while calling for Minister Niki Kerameus to be held accountable for the breach.