Deutsche Welle, 10 June 2013
Media
reports that the US National Security Agency has been monitoring phone and
Internet records have raised concerns on both sides of the Atlantic. The
revelations have left European politicians scrambling to respond.
Senior
European Union officials said on Monday that they intended to use a meeting
later this week to question their American counterparts about the possible
impact on the privacy of EU citizens caused by the National Security Agency
(NSA) monitoring program.
"This
case shows that a clear legal framework for the protection of personal data is
not a luxury or constraint, but a fundamental right," the European
Commissioner for Justice, Viviane Reding said.
The
European Parliament announced that it would discuss the issue in a debate on
Tuesday.
"We
have always been firm on data protection within the EU and when negotiating
with third countries, including the US," Guy Verhofstadt of the
parliament's liberal bloc said. "It would be unacceptable and would need
swift action from the EU if indeed the U.S. National Security Agency were
processing European data without permission."
Germany's
justice minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, described the NSA
activities reported by Britain's Guardian and the Washington Post last week as
a "reason for concern." Speaking to regional public broadcaster BR,
she also said she expected Chancellor Angela Merkel to raise the issue when she
meets with US President Barack Obama next week.
The
chancellor's spokesman told reporters in Berlin that there was no doubt that
the issue would be discussed.
"This
is a circumstance that must be examined very carefully," Stefan Seibert
said.
Obama is to
visit Berlin next Tuesday and Wednesday.
White House
spokesman Jay Carney though, played down the possibility that the NSA's
surveillance program could sow discord between the two leaders. At the same
time, he noted that the president "believes this is a conversation
especially worth having here in the US but abroad as well."
Earlier in
the day, Britain's foreign secretary cancelled a trip to Washington to speak to
parliament about some of the assertions made in the Guardian and Washington
Post reports.
William
Hague told lawmakers that British spies had not used US eavesdropping programs
to circumvent UK laws.
"It
has been suggested that GCHQ (Britain's electronic surveillance agency) uses
our partnership with the United States to get around UK law, obtaining
information that they cannot legally obtain in the United Kingdom," Hague
said.
Source
revealed
All this
came a day after the latest twist to the NSA surveillance story, with a former
CIA employee admitting that he was the insider who had leaked the details of
the US surveillance program to the Guardian.
Edward Snowden
admitted Sunday he was the source behind the Guardian's disclosures.
Snowden,
who worked as a contract employee at the National Security Agency (NSA),
revealed his identity in a video posted on the newspaper's website. The
Guardian said it had published the video at his own request.
"My
sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and
that which is done against them," he said.
Snowden, a
former technical assistant for the CIA, had been working for the NSA as an
employee for various outside contractors including Booz Allen Hamilton. In a
statement Booz Allen confirmed the 29-year-old Snowden had been an employee at
the firm "for less than three months."
Snowden,
who is currently holed up in a hotel room in Hong Kong, said he had chosen that
city to flee to because "they have a spirited commitment to free speech
and the right of political dissent."
pfd/kms (AP, dpa, AFP, Reuters)
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