The German government is seeking “credible and verifiable” commitments from the United States to ensure the protection of Germans’ privacy in the face of surveillance, according to a draft statement from the new coalition government under formation.
The draft, prepared by a working group responsible for foreign affairs, reaffirms Berlin's commitment to concluding a free trade agreement between the EU and the US, describing it as a "vital project".
It also emphasizes that trust between the two close partners should be restored following revelations that the US may have been monitoring the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Meanwhile, German intelligence agents have already traveled to Washington in an effort to reshape bilateral cooperation. Anonymous US officials have told Reuters that there could be a private or even public commitment not to carry out industrial or commercial espionage against German targets in the future.
But the German demand for a “no-spying” agreement is unlikely to be met, they added.
German officials have privately expressed deep disappointment that US President Barack Obama has not been more detailed in his public statements about the allegations made by the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, in its issue published on October 23, that Merkel’s own phone calls were being tapped.
The report was based on information from former US National Security Agency (NSA) technician Edward Snowden.
The German government is also reportedly unhappy with the fact that instead of sending an American delegation to Berlin, a German delegation traveled to Washington to discuss the issue.
Source: newsit.gr
