US stopped spying on allies in 2014, says Norway's premier

COPENHAGEN, Denmark

The US told Norway that it stopped spying on allies in 2014, Norway’s premier said on Thursday.

“I am glad that the Americans clearly expressed that they changed their practice in 2014 when it comes to the surveillance of allies and that they would cooperate with us and others to understand what happened,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg told Norwegian news agency NTB.

She said Norwegian officials held a “positive” meeting on the matter with US diplomats in Norway.

Danish and German media reported earlier this week that Denmark's intelligence agency helped the US National Security Agency (NSA) spy on top European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The revelations that Washington eavesdropped on its European allies first emerged in 2013, but journalists have now gained access to internal reports about how the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (FE) provided support to the NSA.

The reports indicated that Germany’s northern neighbor and EU partner cooperated actively with the US in spying on German leaders.