Deutsche Welle, 8 May 2014
NSA
whistleblower Edward Snowden is to testify before a German panel investigating
the activities of the spy agency. However, the panel has not yet determined
whether he may travel to Berlin for the hearing.
German
lawmakers agreed to call on NSA-whistleblower to provide public testimony. The
parliamentary committee, comprised of representatives from Germany's four
parties in the Bundestag, announced the decision on Thursday after deliberating
over the matter for roughly two hours.
The vote
was unanimous, according to Martina Renner, the chairperson of Germany's Left
party for the special committee.
Lawmakers involved the formal inquiry of NSA activities did not decide on Thursday,
however, where the long-awaited hearing would take place.
Members of
Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-left, center-right ruling coalition have
proposed calling for Snowden to submit to questioning in a video conference
from his current location in Moscow. However, members of the opposition – the
Greens and the Left – want Snowden to come to Germany.
Angela
Merkel's conservatives are strictly opposed to this, fearing that it would
impact negatively on Berlin's relations with Washington, which has put out an
international arrest warrant for Edward Snowden and would demand Germany
extradite him to the US once he sets foot on German soil.
Merkel's
coalition furthermore proposed the tentative date of July 3, according to Left
party chairperson Renner said on Thursday.
Revelations
of NSA amassing phone data from private German citizens, as well as of tapping
Chancellor Merkel's cell phone have outraged the German public. The incident
has also damaged US-German diplomatic relations, coinciding with efforts by the
EU and US to agree on a transatlantic trade pact.
Snowden,
who first leaked the information to the media last June, is still wanted by the
US on treason charges.
kms/rg (AFP, dpa)
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