Germany, France demand 'no-spy' agreement with US

EU leaders gather for a summit in Brussels on Friday.

They were due to discuss the migration dilemma but instead the talks have been overshadowed by a row over spying. It follows claims that the phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and millions of French calls have been monitored by the US National Security Agency. She warned the US that eavesdropping on allies was unacceptable, saying "spying on friends, that's just not done".

Merkel has demanded a complete explanation of the phone tapping claims which emerged in the German media. Paris and Berlin are united in their outrage. Merkel and French President Francois Hollande want to hold talks with the US by the end of the year.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said there was no doubt the revelations had caused tensions between the US and its allies. He reiterated that Obama had assured the German Chancellor that her phone is not being listened to now and will not be in the future but that statement still left open the question of whether calls had been listened to in the past.

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anonymous

Oct 25, 2013 09:24pm

How about abandoning US technologies as much as it is possible? Once those giant corps loose majority of users, they will make sure those government crooks won't have enough money to run such programs anymore...

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Tim

Oct 25, 2013 09:36pm

If they get a no spy agreement, I as a US citizen want one too. As I type this I can hear a drone flying over my house, my monitor keeps flickering like they are tapping into my computer and my cell phone has cycled on and off three times. For the record, I love Obama, the NSA is the best, the IRS is an outstanding agency and I believe all of them should be allowed to have all the Star Trek party's they want, any where in the world they want. Go Obama!

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Nikos Retsos

Oct 25, 2013 09:47pm

No spying agreement between the Europeans and the U.S. will be worthless and meaningless. If such an agreement is signed, the NSA may stop spying on Europeans, but it will set up companies and contracctors in New Zealand, Angola, or another non-suspected by the Europeans country, and equip them with sophisticated equipment and training to do that - as it does with hundrends of war contractors. Why would the U.S. do that? Because when a national security activity becomes vast and grows deep roots into the American political and military establishment, there is no going back. It becomes part of the American politico-military fabric, the so-called "Indusrial and military Complex" that stands above the U.S. government. The late U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower admitted it on his inaugural speech to the U.S. Congress in 1956, and nothing has changed since then. The U.S. government can shift things around, but it cannot tear down the fabric, not can it control the behemoth bureaucracy. And with most presidents come quite ignoran in global affairs into office, they just go along with the insider experts. That is why many American, including myself, still believe that U.S. president John Kennedy was assassinated by the powerful bureaucracy for his refusal to allow the direct military invasion of Cuba. That bureaucracy still calls the shots today! Nikos Retsos, retired professor

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