BERLIN (AA) - Reports of secret US surveillance targeting Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone have sparked an uproar among German politicians who demand an immediate explanation.
"For years I have assumed that my mobile phone is monitored but I didn't suspect the Americans,” Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere told German public television ARD.
"The Americans are and will remain our best friends, but this cannot continue like that,” de Maiziere said, stressing that the US should immediately stop such practices, if the allegations of secret surveillance targeting German leaders are certain.
Attorney General examines claims
Federal Attorney General’s office stepped in on Thursday following press reports and official statements to ask for more information from German security and intelligence organizations as part of an examination that may also lead to a formal investigation.
German Foreign Ministry has also summoned the US Ambassador in Berlin to clearly convey the position of the federal government on the recent incident which is described as “totally unacceptable” by German politicians.
Thomas Oppermann, co-chair of the Parliament’s special committee responsible for supervising intelligence, told deputies that the Germans “have apparently been deceived by the US side,” according to the press.
- A late apology from Washington
Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has described the US reaction to Germany’s complains “a late apology.”
“Tapping and spying on friends, between friendly states is unacceptable no matter whether these are private or public areas,” he told German daily Leipziger Volkszeitung.
The leader of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD), Sigmar Gabriel, has also joined criticism of the US administration over the surveillance affair.
It would be hard to imagine agreeing to a free trade agreement with the US if Washington were infringing on citizens' rights and privacy, Gabriel, the leader of Merkel’s potential coalition partner, told journalists on Thursday.
Strong suspicions but no clear evidence
According to German press, a recent examination by the German secret service BND and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) raised strong suspicions that secret surveillance targeted Merkel’s private mobile phone. She often used this mobile for telephone conversations with party officials, German newspapers reported. Both telephone conversations and SMS communication is thought to have been monitored, but there has been no concrete evidence as is often the case with such surveillance operations, sources told the press.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called US President Barack Obama on Wednesday and demanded immediate clarification for reports years ago which had claimed secret monitoring of her mobile phone by the US National Security Agency (NSA).
A spokeswoman for the NSA told Spiegel magazine that the US President assured the German Chancellor “that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of Chancellor Merkel." But according to the magazine, NSA did not specify whether this statement applied to the past.
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