Germany spied on France and European Commission ‘on behalf of NSA’
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who complained when the NSA allegedly bugged her phone, now faces embarrassing questions over espionage
German intelligence services spied on top French officials and the European Commission on behalf of the American spy agency NSA, according to an article in German media.
Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency helped the National Security Agency (NSA) carry out "political espionage" by keeping watch on "top officials at the French Foreign Ministry, the Elysee Palace and European Commission" the German daily paper was due to report yesterday.
Long portrayed as a victim of snooping by allies, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has grappled this week with embarrassing reports of German spying on European firms carried out on behalf of the US.
Citing intelligence agency documents, the daily paper reported on Monday that the German chancellor's office was informed in 2008, during Merkel's first term, of German involvement in US economic espionage but did not react.
According to , spying on companies could only have taken place in isolated cases as the United States searched for "information on illegal exports".
"The heart [of the problem] is political espionage of European neighbours and institutions of the European Union," the paper claims, citing a source with knowledge of BND's procedures.
In Paris, a French foreign ministry spokesman said: "We are in close contact with our German partners, who have publicly said they would proceed with an internal clarification on these elements reported by the press."
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, a trusted Merkel lieutenant who served as chief of staff at the Chancellor's Office from 2005-2009, has offered to provide an explanation next week to a parliamentary committee that is looking into NSA practices.
However, the opposition has already accused the government of lying for saying in writing on April 14 that it knew nothing about any economic espionage by the NSA.
"I follow the rules," de Maiziere said in a statement on Wednesday after published a story accusing him of misleading the parliament and the public.
"That's my understanding about the treatment of top-secret information. It's in my own interest to clear these accusations up. They are not true and the documents would show that."
The opposition called on de Maiziere to resign.
"I categorically reject the assertion the government has not told the truth," Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Wednesday during a regular press conference.
Germany reacted with outrage at revelations in 2013 by fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden that the NSA was conducting massive internet and phone data sweeps, including in Germany.
The revelations, which included claims the NSA tapped Merkel's mobile phone, strained ties with the US.
Analysts say that Merkel remains loyal to de Maiziere, who has long been a punching bag for the opposition. His cousin Lothar de Maiziere was old East Germany's last prime minister and made Merkel's career possible.
"Merkel won't let him be sacrificed," said Gero Neugebauer, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University. "She's known him from the start of her career and they've always been fiercely loyal to each other. She'd be exposed if he had to go."
