Brussels, 28/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - A delegation from the German government tasked with obtaining information on the alleged US National Security Agency (NSA) tapping is due to leave for the US during the week of 28 October. Fresh revelations this weekend in Germany's Spiegel and popular daily newspaper Bild have said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone could have been tapped since 2002 and that US President Barack Obama could have known about personally this since 2010.
The allegations were immediately denied by the NSA, but add to the many accusations made against the NSA since June, which could create a breakdown in trust, as Merkel herself suggested at the European Council in Brussels on 24 October (see EUROPE 10951). During the Council, Merkel asked her counterparts to join France and Germany on a future cooperation pact with the US on intelligence - a sort of “non-spying pact”, the German government stated. The US already has a similar agreement with the UK. Italy said on Friday that it could sign up to this Franco-German initiative, based essentially on bilateral contact with Washington, but other countries such as Spain and Hungary still wanted to think about this.
Spain then found itself centre-stage on Monday 28 October, as Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo asserted that the US could have spied on over 60 million communications in Spain between December 2012 and January 2013. The US ambassador in Madrid was expected to be called to Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.
On 28 October, the European Parliament's civil liberties committee also sent a delegation to carry out an investigation into the practices of the NSA. The delegation - comprising nine MEPs including data protection rapporteur Jan-Philipp Albrecht (Greens/EFA, Germany), Axel Voss (EPP, Germany), Claude Moraes (S&D, UK) in charge of the report on tapping, and Timothy Kirkhope (ECR, UK) - will remain on the ground until 30 October. In particular, it is due to meet members of the US Congress, representatives from the US Department of Homeland Security, and researchers and representatives from companies like Apple. No response had been given by Keith Alexander, the head of the NSA, who was also asked to meet the MEPs. During their visit, the SWIFT-TFTP agreements will be addressed, as well as the Safe Harbour agreement and the reform of European data protection rules. (SP/transl.fl)