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EU demands answers over alleged US spying

The European Union is demanding answers, following allegations in a German magazine that the United States used covert surveillance tactics against them. The American spying, which the French Socialist Party has called “unacceptable” and “scandalous,” is putting into question negotiations over a free trade area between the EU and the US.

Reuters
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The German weekly Der Spiegel said its report was based on confidential documents regarding activities by the US National Security Agency (NSA) on EU diplomatic missions. Some of the documents were able to be consulted via whistleblower Edward Snowden.

One document, dated September 2010 and classified as “strictly confidential,” described how NSA kept watch over EU activities in Washington. The agency had microphones installed in the building and infiltrated the computer network, making emails and internal documents accessible.

According to Der Spiegel, the EU delegation was also subject to spying at the United Nations and at the EU headquarters in Brussels.

The EU has answered angrily back, likening such actions to those used during the Cold War.

“We have immediately been in contact with the US authorities in Washington DC and in Brussels and have confronted them with the press reports,” the European Commission said in a statement.

"They have told us they are checking on the accuracy of the information released yesterday and will come back to us."

US Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes refused to comment directly on the allegations during a briefing in Johannesberg on Saturday, but said the US was "very close" to EU security services.

French Deputy Jean-Christophe Cambadelis wrote on his professional website on Saturday that “if the revelations about America’s spying of European institutions turns out to be true, the minimum we should do is suspend negotiations on a free trade area.”

Earlier this month, Brussels and Washington launched negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement that intends to add tens of billions of euros to the EU and US economies.

France’s Socialist Party Secretary General Harlem Désir said it was too early to talk about completely suspending the agreement, but said guaranteeing the privacy of personal information would be a prerequisite for signing.

Désir said that if the allegations were confirmed, it would be "scandalous."

Meanwhile, Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who first leaked information about the US’s widespread surveillance tactics, remains in political limbo.

After arriving at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport last week from Hong Kong, Snowden is unable to leave due to the fact that he has no legal travel documents nor a Russian visa to leave the airport transit zone.

Snowden is awaiting word from Ecuador’s government on whether it will grant him his asylum request.

The 30 year old is wanted by the US government on charges including espionage.
 

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