NSA surveillance: 'Grave breach of trust,' says Merkel
| BERLIN
The聽German government聽has obtained information that the聽United States聽may have monitored the mobile phone of Chancellor聽Angela Merkel聽and she called President聽Barack Obama聽on Wednesday to demand an immediate clarification, her spokesman said.
In a strongly worded statement, the spokesman said Merkel had told Obama that if such surveillance had taken place it would represent a "grave breach of trust" between close allies.
"She made clear that she views such practices, if proven true, as completely unacceptable and condemns them unequivocally," the statement read.
White House聽spokesman聽Jay Carney, responding to the news in Washington, said Obama had assured Merkel that the聽United States聽"is not monitoring and will not monitor" the communications of the chancellor.
When pressed on whether spying may have occurred in the past, a聽White House聽official declined to elaborate on the statement.
"I'm not in a position to comment publicly on every specific alleged intelligence activity," the official said.
The news broke as Secretary of State聽John Kerry, on a visit to聽Rome, faced fresh questions about mass spying on European allies, based on revelations from聽Edward Snowden, the fugitive former聽U.S. intelligence聽operative granted asylum in聽Russia.
French President Francois Hollande is pressing for the U.S. spying issue to be put on the agenda of a summit of European leaders starting on Thursday.
He also called Obama earlier this week after French newspaper聽Le Monde聽reported that the聽National Security Agency聽(NSA) had collected tens of thousands of French phone records in a single month between December 2012 and January 2013.
The NSA appeared to be targeting people tied to French business and politics as well as individuals suspected of links to terrorism, the paper said.
Merkel is not the only foreign leader whose personal communications may have been monitored by the聽United States. Last month Brazilian President聽Dilma Rousseff聽called off plans for an October state visit to Washington because of similar revelations.聽
Different atmosphere聽
On a June visit to聽Berlin, Obama defended U.S. anti-terrorism tactics, telling reporters at a joint news conference with Merkel that Washington was not spying on ordinary citizens.
Revelations before the trip of a covert U.S. Internet surveillance programme, code-named Prism, caused outrage in a country where memories of the eavesdropping East German聽Stasi secret police are still fresh.
"Trust is an important currency in political relations, and while Merkel is an extremely rational person and would probably assume Obama didn't know about this, it will create a different atmosphere between the two," said聽Volker Perthes聽of the German聽Institute for International and Security Affairs in聽Berlin.
The revelations may hamper efforts to clinch a new free trade accord between the聽United States聽and聽Europe聽by the end of next year.
Earlier this month, a second round of negotiations on the deal was cancelled because of the聽U.S. government聽shutdown. Reports the U.S. bugged EU offices have also cast a cloud over the talks.
A German聽official, requesting anonymity, said the government had been alerted to the latest spying activities by聽Der Spiegel, a weekly magazine which had obtained a U.S. document with Merkel's telephone number on it.聽Germany聽then confronted U.S. officials with the document.
"Between close friends and partners, as聽Germany聽and the U.S. have been for decades, there should not be such monitoring of the communications of a government leader," said Merkel's spokesman in the statement. "This would be a grave breach of trust. Such practices should be immediately stopped."
The聽White House聽statement said Merkel and Obama had agreed to intensify cooperation between the U.S. and German聽intelligence services to protect the security of both countries.
"The聽United States聽greatly values our close cooperation with聽Germany聽on a broad range of shared security challenges," Carney said. "As the President has said, the聽United States聽is reviewing the way that we gather intelligence to ensure that we properly balance the security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share."
