Brussels, 17/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Sunday 16 February, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her desire to set up a European communications network in response to the intelligence and mass surveillance activities of the American NSA and the British GCHQ, it was reported by several media sources on Monday 17 February. This network would offer protection against the NSA, Merkel explained. She is set to discuss the matter this Wednesday 19 February with French President François Hollande, whom she is meeting in Paris. The idea would be to set in place a communications network built around European suppliers, such that e-mails and communication of all kinds would have to pass through the United States. “In particular, we will discuss the issue of European access providers offering our citizens security, to ensure that nobody has to send e-mails and other information to the other side of the Atlantic. It would be preferable to create a communication network within Europe”, Merkel said in her weekly “podcast” (our translation). The German leader also stressed the need for progress on the European reform of data protection rules. These announcements come in the wake of reports in the German media that the chancellor failed to get Germany included in the non-espionage pact negotiated between the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The European commissioner with responsibility for these issues, Viviane Reding, welcomed Merkel's stance, as Germany has displayed a number of misgivings in recent months over the reform of the 1995 directive. The Luxembourg commissioner feels that adopting new legislative rules is a necessary stage. There will then be a requirement for a new directive on network security and telecoms legislation also geared up for these challenges, not forgetting the creation of a European cloud service. Reding hopes that the discussions on Wednesday between the two leaders and representatives of the digital industry will be useful and help to speed up the work. (SP/transl.fl)