Brussels, 29/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 29 October, the White House announced it was reviewing its practice relating to monitoring foreign leaders, while remaining vague in its promises in the face of European anger and of the criticism that is now also being voiced in Congress, AFP reports. The vice-president of the European Commission, Viviane Reding, called on the United States to restore trust with Europeans.
A senior Commission official explained that the Obama administration was reflecting on how appropriate it would be to declare illegal the tapping of conversations by friendly state leaders, as revealed earlier by the New York Times. He underlined, however, that such a decision had not been taken.
The same official, however, described as inexact the comments made the day before by the leader of the powerful US Senate intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein. She had affirmed that she had received assurances from the executive that the gathering of data from allies would not continue.
On Monday evening, President Obama stressed that he had launched a review of intelligence collection operations, mainly those of the National Security Agency (NSA), adding that this was “to make sure that what they're able to do doesn't necessarily mean what they should be doing”.
In a televised interview, Obama, who spoke of a review that has been ongoing for several months now since the revelations by former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden, nonetheless refused to answer a question on the spying on communications by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He said he could not confirm a whole load of accusations made by the press. The alleged tapping of Merkel's mobile phone, however, has prompted outrage in Germany and Europe where press reports have also spoken of the massive collection of electronic data by the NSA, mainly in France and Spain.
Restoring a situation of trust with Europeans
On Tuesday 29 October, during a trip to Washington, Reding called on the United States to “restore trust” with Europeans. “Friends and partners do not spy on each other”, she said. The commissioner, who is to meet several officials to above all discuss the question of the free-trade agreement, reiterated her wish that the United States would provide effective legal appeal possibilities for non-American citizens in its “Patriot Act”, as she believes such an inclusion would be a real guarantee that confidence is being restored.
A delegation from the European Parliament was still in the US federal capital on Tuesday for discussions on the impact that surveillance programmes have on the fundamental rights of EU citizens.
Senator Feinstein, an ally of President Obama, announced on Monday that a “major review” of American spying tactics would be launched. She went on to say that, as far as the collection of data on the United States' allied leaders is concerned (including France, Spain, Mexico and Germany), she was quite adamant about being fiercely opposed to it.
In Germany, where the alleged spying revelations on the chancellor have created shock waves, parliamentarians are to meet on 18 November in extraordinary session to discuss the matter.
Germany plans to send a delegation of high representatives to the United States this week from its intelligence services in order to take forward discussions with the White House and the NSA on the recent allegations, according to the deputy spokesman for Angela Merkel, Georg Streiter.
Commission remains confident about security of its equipment
Would be possible for the US to spy on the Commission's telephones and databases? Some press articles in Italy reported on Tuesday that EU delegations had been spied upon in September by the Russians during the G20. A Commission spokesman said the European Commission has highly sophisticated security systems and permanent inspections are carried out to ensure the security services of the European Commission are working properly. At this stage, therefore, he said, they are fully confident that all communication means used by the commissioners or the personnel of the institution are secure. (SP/transl.jl)