Barack Obama was reportedly furious when he learned that the NSA was spying on Angela Merkel
Photo: Rex Features
- Key political leaders in Germany have warned that the Trans-Atlantic free trade pact may be in jeopardy after claims the US has been spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone.
The Telegraph
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
24 october 2013
Sigmar Gabriel, leader of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) and chief negotiator in coalition talks with Mrs Merkel, said it would be “hard to imagine” that the free trade deal between the EU and the US can go ahead if the American intelligence agencies are carrying out cyber-warfare against Europe.
Mrs Merkel herself appeared furious as she walked into the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels for an EU summit. “Spying among friends is not on. Trust will now have to be rebuilt,” she said.
The Trans-Atlantic pact is billed by David Cameron as the “biggest bilateral trade deal in history”, intended to cut down a thicket of commercial barriers and pull the world economy out of the doldrums. It would create a single market covering 40pc of global GDP from 2014 onwards.
Yet anger has been building across Europe as revelations keep coming to light from documents leaked by NSA defector Edward Snowden. Le Monde reported this week that the NSA had targeted 70,000 French telephones, SMS, and emails over a single month between December 2012 and January 2013, some involving business leaders with no obvious link to terrorism. Wanadoo and Alcatel-Lucent were among the targets.
French premier Jean-Marc Ayrault said he was “profoundly shocked that they would stoop so low as to collect data that has no strategic or defence justification”. The NSA denies that it ever targets commercial secrets.
Berlin has tried to play down the scandal until now but the alleged bugging of Mrs Merkel’s private phones have changed the chemistry of the affair. Her office called it a “grave breach of trust”. Cabinet office minister Ronald Pofalla said NSA targeting of the Chancellor takes the scandal to a “whole new level” .
Thomas Oppermann, the SPD’s leader on the Bundestag’s intelligence committee, said the NSA actions were “an attack on the sovereignty of a democratic state” and would now become the a central issue in the coalition talks with Mrs Merkel.
While spy agencies invariably get up to tricks, it oversteps the line to eavesdrop on the leaders of close NATO allies. Mrs Merkel’s private number was reportedly included in the Snowden dossier leaked to Spiegel magazine.
Markus Kerber, head of Germany’s business federation, BDI, pleaded with the authorities not to let the spying dispute halt trade talks. “The deal will create 100,000 jobs in Germany alone and generate at least €5bn a year in growth,” he said.
Britain is a champion of the free trade pact, estimating that it will create 2m jobs on both sides of the Atlantic and generate extra output of almost $400bn a year for the global economy.
Spiegel reported that US President Barack Obama was furious when he first learned that the NSA was spying on Germany’s Chancellor, with whom he has warm ties. He ordered the surveillance to be stopped immediately. If so, diplomats say this should take some of the emotional sting out of the scandal and give both sides a way to defuse the crisis.
original article found here
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