BERLIN
Germany’s parliament has voted to start its investigation into how the U.S.' National Security Agency carried out spying activities in Germany.
Parties in the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) on Thursday voted to establish a committee of inquiry that is to examine the monitoring actions of the U.S. secret agency and other nations' intelligence services in the country.
The committee is due to meet for the first time next month and will consist of eight lawmakers - six from the ruling Coalition, two from the opposition.
The probe has a broad investigation mandate, covering dates back to 2001. There will be a total of more than 30 questions which the committee will investigate.
The committee will clarify "whether, in what way and to what extent" intelligence services of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (the so-called 'Five-Eyes' alliance) spied on, analyzed and transferred German data.
MPs will investigate which diplomatic missions and military sites were used for spying and to what extent have such possible surveillance operations violated German and European law.
The U.S. surveillance of German leaders started in 2002 during the presidency of George W. Bush, including the monitoring of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder who opposed supporting American military intervention in Iraq, according to German press reports.
The German authorities believe that the NSA’s suspected surveillance operation was controlled from a special facility at the U.S. embassy building in Berlin, which is only a kilometer from the Chancellery.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
