Brussels, 17/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - Speaking in Washington on Tuesday 16 July, European Commissioner for the Internal Market Michel Barnier said that the revelations about the American espionage programme raised the question of “mutual confidence between allies” and stressed that Europe was waiting for Washington's response, or a change in its “methods”, AFP reports.
“This business of wiretapping in espionage casts doubt over the mutual confidence of allies (…). That requires that we speak more about it, not less, and that all the cards are put on the table”, the commissioner told the press. “That is why we have launched with member states (…) a high-level group to get to the bottom of things, to know the truth, obtain clear and precise responses about this question of spying, especially on our institutions and citizens”, he added.
“I hope the Americans have understood that, to attain all the conditions for the trust that we need for success - notably with TTIP - it is necessary that we really get the answers, and perhaps that a certain number of things cease”, Barnier stressed. He added that the EU should “adopt measures to protect its citizens' data”.
The Europeans “now have to stop being naive”, Barnier went on. On Wednesday 17 July, the website EuObserver revealed that, without the espionage practices of the Americans, Europeans would never have known the existence, two years ago, of cyber-attacks from China which directly affected the e-mails of Herman Van Rompuy and of the European anti-terrorism coordinator, Gilles de Kerchove. (SP/transl.fl).