Opposition MPs motion to set up parliamentary hacking commission

At a joint press conference, the signatories from opposition parliamentary groups and caucuses declared support for Paweł Kukiz's candidature as head of the commission.

The commission is to investigate reports of surveillance carried out in the years 2005-2021 as part of what has become known as the 'Pegasus affair' after the Israeli-made spyware reportedly used on opposition figures.

The spyware can eavesdrop on conversations and harvest information from smart phones.

After the press conference, Kukiz officially submitted the request, signed by MPS of the main opposition grouping, Civic Coalition (KO) as well as by MPs of The Left, the Polish Coalition-Polish Peoples Party (PSL), Agreement (Porozumienie) and Confederation (Konfederacja).

The MPs held a meeting prior to the press conference at which they all agreed on the need for a parliamentary commission to investigate the affair.

Kukiz, who heads the Kukiz '15 political movement, said the proposed make-up of the commission was "five places for the ruling party, five places for the opposition and one place for the Kukiz '15 group."

"All groups and caucuses have declared that they will vote for the establishment of a commission and for the head of the commission to be Pawel Kukiz," PSL leader Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said, adding that all parliamentary factions represented at the meeting would push for the motion to be voted on at the next sitting of the Sejm (lower house).

Kukiz said the latest reports of covert surveillance of politicians and the general public were "outrageous."

"However, the commission - if it is established, and I hope it will be - will also cover the period of the (previous - PAP) Civic Platform government," Kukiz said. "Also those issues not entirely clarified about the tapping of journalists and the general use of that operational technology by all governments since 2005 until recently."