Obama, Merkel ‘exchanging views’ in first phone chat since CIA moles row
Conversation on 'intelligence cooperation' their first since CIA station chief in Berlin expelled in latest row over American snooping on key ally
US President Barack Obama yesterday spoke to Chancellor Angela Merkel for the first time since a row over US spying prompted Germany to turf out the CIA station chief in Berlin.
The White House gave away little of the conversation about the latest espionage scandal to rock the crucial relationship between the US president and Europe's most powerful leader.
A statement said that Obama and Merkel "exchanged views on US-German intelligence cooperation, and the president said he'd remain in close communication on ways to improve cooperation going forward".
The phrase "exchanged views" may suggest the two leaders were far apart on how they see the issue.
Obama and Merkel have forged a firm working relationship, but successive revelations about US spying and surveillance have strained US-German ties and put the German leader under intense political pressure at home.
Reports that two German government employees were being investigated amid claims they were double agents for the CIA rattled ties, which had barely recovered from claims that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had tapped Merkel's mobile phone.