Brussels, 25/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - Directly concerned by the NSA espionage scandal, France and Germany floated an initiative on Thursday evening, 24 October, to obtain information from Washington on the controversial practices of US services. A series of bilateral meetings should, by end 2013, result in a mutual agreement on intelligence matters.
Tabled at the beginning of the meeting by French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (whose mobile phone, according to press reports on Thursday morning, may have been tapped by the National Security Agency), the initiative brought together all member states, according to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, speaking after the meeting. That includes the United Kingdom which, the president went on to say, was “not opposed and agrees with the text as it stands”. The United Kingdom, whose services and the alleged collaboration with the NSA are also under fire of criticism, certainly has “special relations with certain countries”, Van Rompuy said ironically, but in any case will not be forced to sign up to the initiative.
The statement by the heads of state and government on this subject, added in annex to the conclusions, avoids mentioning the fate to be reserved for bilateral agreements, such as the free-trade agreement or the security agreements for combating terrorism. It does, however, insist on the fact that the partnership with the United States must be based on “trust”. The heads of state underline the close relationship between the EU and the United States and the “value of the partnership”, it is stipulated in the text. They express their conviction that their relationship must be based on respect and trust, in particular when it concerns the work and cooperation between secret services. The leaders point out, moreover, that intelligence services are a vital element in combating terrorism, but that a lack of trust could be detrimental to essential cooperation.
This statement did not, at any rate, convince the leader of the S&D Group at the European Parliament, Hannes Swoboda, who tweeted that Europeans have not shown much courage regarding the United States. In Strasbourg on Wednesday, the European Parliament had called on the EU to suspend its agreement on the transfer of banking data on Europeans dating back to 2010 (Swift/TFTP). Earlier in the day on Thursday, the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, had also expressed the wish that there would be temporary suspension of the free-trade agreement talks, an approach that the national leaders did not take on board.
When it comes to concrete action, the member states nonetheless undertook to adopt the reform of data protection regulation within the time set, at the latest by 1 January 2015, as well as the directive on cyber-security. Commissioner Viviane Reding as well as France hoped to be given guarantees that there would be a vote on reform before the European elections. However, the complexity of the text takes time. “This does not only concern privacy but also the business world”, said Van Rompuy to justify the delay. European companies, represented in particular by BusinessEurope, were also unable to conceal their fears caused by reform, which, they say, could harm growth by imposing further charges.
On Friday 25 October, an adviser of Barack Obama on homeland security at least acknowledged in Washington that surveillance programmes had “created considerable tension with some of its closest allies”, AFP reports. On Thursday, many European leaders had spoken of their concern regarding the series of revelations on NSA practice. Angela Merkel had already said: “I repeat that spying is unacceptable between friends”, adding that this was “not just for myself but for all German citizens”. She reiterated her fears on Friday, saying: “We need intelligence activity to ensure security for our citizens but, when there is mistrust, this does not facilitate cooperation. On the contrary, it makes it more difficult”.
François Hollande said “there is behaviour and practice that is unacceptable”. “It must be stopped and clarification demanded”, he said. Bilateral contacts with Washington should allow the “past” to be clarified but also allow a rule for the future to be fixed, he said. However, it is not a matter of stopping transatlantic cooperation on combating terrorism. Nonetheless, there is, at European level, the need to “protect personal data and fundamental rights”, the French president explained.
The NSA practices were also cause for concern in Italy in recent days, with revelations in the press that the Italian government had also been monitored. Prime Minister Enrico Letta announced that Italy would join the Franco-German initiative and that it had already begun “bilateral discussions”. Light must be shed on this, Letta said.
Spain did not specify its intentions, with Mariano Rajoy saying that his country would wait for additional information before deciding whether or not to sign up to the initiative. “This is something we shall decide upon in due course - we may decide to join the others or do something quite different”, the Spanish prime minister said, pointing out that intelligence is a prerogative of member states.
Hungary reserves the same right, a spokesman said on Twitter, and will decide to join the initiative, or not to join, “once things are clearer”.
The Polish prime minister expressed some doubt as to the possible code of conduct that would result from bilateral discussions with the United States. “Obviously, in order to appease public opinion, the United States, France and Germany should be reassuring”, he said, adding: “However, let us not deceive ourselves, intelligence services are there to learn about the others and not to give assurances of their good will or their good manners”. Tusk nonetheless recognised there was a problem with the fact that national leaders may be monitored. “For intelligence services, it is not interesting to listen into telephone conversations between heads of state as they are usually of a formal nature and are generally, believe me, very, very boring”, he joked.
When quizzed on the matter on Friday, Cameron finally took a stance on the subject and even considered the Franco-German initiative to be positive. The European Council, he said, approved what he called a good and reasonable statement, and he also approved it. The British prime minister nonetheless underlined that the intelligence services come under national responsibility and that there is no EU competence on this. Another reason for Cameron's satisfaction was that his colleagues, he said, at the European Council do not wish to break the link with the United States and they want a good partnership and good relations with the US. He expressed the fear that what Edward Snowden, assisted by the papers, has done will make the task of protecting citizens and countries more difficult. (SP with CG/FG/MB/AN/JK/EL/IL/MD/LC/transl.jl)