The European Union has paid millions of euros to the Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions through the Horizon Europe mechanism.
The investigation by Dutch outlet Apache has been confirmed by a spokesperson for the European Investment Bank, which has been chaired by former Spanish Vice President Nadia Calviño since January 2024 and which oversees the European Investment Fund. The bank approved the venture capital investment in Paragon Solutions, the company that owns the Graphite spyware.
The information shows that in January 2020, the EIF signed a €21.2 million commitment with Aurora Europe SCSp. This company, Aurora Europe, in turn invested in Red Dot Capital Partners II LP, which financed a loan with the cyber surveillance company Paragon.
The investigation has failed to determine how much of that 21.2 million went to Paragon. The company was founded by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Ehud Schneorson, commander of Unit 8200, a breeding ground for startups and spy companies that also spawned the NSO Group, responsible for the Pegasus software.
Graphite, the software partly funded by the EU, is presented as a product that can hack any mobile phone, even encrypted ones. It was recently acquired, in a two million euro contract, by the US Customs and Border Protection (ICE), Donald Trump's bodyguard.
In March of this year, Citizen Lab published an exclusive report identifying multiple cases of alleged use of Paragon spyware against journalists and human rights defenders in Italy. Among the targets of the software have been journalist Francesco Cancellato and Luca Casarini, founder of Mediterranea Saving Humans.
Israel is listed as an associated country under the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013), the Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) and Horizon Europe (2021-2027)
European universities have participated in these programs, benefiting Israeli arms and security technology manufacturing companies through European R&D programs.
Human rights movements have called for the cancellation of Israeli participation through these agreements.
Para la Red Universitaria por Palestina, la opinión consultiva emitida el 19 de julio de 2024 por la Corte Internacional de Justicia “compromete la continuidad de todas las colaboraciones de investigación en el marco del programa Horizon Europe, y exige revisar y/o rescindir los acuerdos de colaboración científica y el propio Acuerdo de Asociación UE-Israel”.
(Cubadebate: Tomado de El Salto)
