Greek ‘Watergate’ phone-tapping scandal puts added pressure on PM

The sun shines on tourists visiting the Acropolis in Athens but a cloud hangs over Greek politics. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images

For much of last week thunderstorms and torrential rain swept Athens, marking a dramatic end to a summer otherwise electrified by talk of spyware, cyber-mercenaries, espionage and eavesdropping.

As the sun re-emerged on Friday, it was to a highly charged mood as Greece’s prematurely reconvened parliament debated a phone-tapping scandal whose exposure of practices last associated with military rule has shocked the nation and been met with stunned disbelief at the heart of the EU.