FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2013

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BRUSSELS: German Chancellor Angela Merkel answers journalists questions yesterday as she arrives to attend a European Council meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels. European Union heads of state and government opened a two-day summit yesterday focusing notably on prospects for growth from the digital economy amid data privacy concerns, plus lessons from the Lampedusa migrant tragedy. AFP

Spying row tests Europe ties with US

Merkel, Hollande bluntly demand Washingtons explanation
BRUSSELS: Mounting ire over alleged US snooping will test Europes ties with its main ally at a summit yesterday after German and French leaders Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande bluntly demanded Washington provide an explanation. Initially expected to be a routine affair, according to a senior diplomat, the two-day talks from 1500 GMT between the European Unions 28 heads of state and government have been hijacked by the escalating row over covert US surveillance of its allies. As Germany summoned the US ambassador to Berlin over suspicions Washington spied on Merkels mobile phone-a highly unusual step between the allies-a French diplomatic source said the German chancellor and Hollande will discuss how to coordinate their response on the issue. The EU executive, the European Commission, pressed leaders for a strong and united stand as its President Jose Manuel Barroso warned against a slide towards totalitarianism. Data protection must apply no matter if it concerns the emails of citizens or the mobile phone of Angela Merkel, said EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding. Now is the time for action and not only for declarations at the EU summit. Merkel on the eve of the summit called President Barack Obama demanding answers, warning that proof of snooping on her phone would be considered a breach of trust. It was Obamas second such embarrassing call this week after Hollande too picked up his phone to demand an explanation over reports of US spying on millions of phone calls in France. Rattled by the latest exposure based on leaks from US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the White House has said it is not now listening in on Merkel-but also did not reject the possibility her communications may have been intercepted in the past. Washington also denied reports of eavesdropping on France. In the wake of Snowdens revelations about the National Security Agencys activities, several important allies have complained about US covert surveillance and the White House is struggling to stem the diplomatic damage. The NSA affair has also seen claims of US snooping on foreign leaders in Mexico and Brazil, whose President Dilma Rousseff last month cancelled a state visit to Washington over the scandal. In Germany, the head of the SPD party, Sigmar Gabriel-currently in talks with Merkel to form a coalition government-said the snooping threatened talks to seal a trans-Atlantic trade deal seen as the biggest in history. Whether EU leaders will come up with a common stand in response is less than certain. Many, notably Britain with its close intelligence links to the US, and Spain, see spying as a matter of national interest firmly outside the blocs remit. Many also spy on each other, with Britain and the US spying on Italy to glean data on underwater fibre-optic cables with the consent of its own secret services, according to Italian weekly LEspresso. I dont imagine the (EU) Council getting into a discussion on national security, said an EU diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity. Espionage is not an EU matter, its an issue of national sovereignty, said another diplomat. But as anger boiled up in Europe, Commission head Barroso said We in Europe consider the right to privacy as a fundamental right. Referring to life in Communist-era East Germany, where Merkel grew up, he warned that not so long ago there was a part of Germany where political police were spying on peoples lives daily. We know very recently what totalitarianism means, he said.We know what happens when a state uses powers that intrude on peoples lives. At the summit, officially themed around boosting employment and the digital economy, leaders will also tackle a complex immigration crisis highlighted by this months deaths of hundreds of refugees desperate to reach Europes shores. The two shipwrecks, in which more than 400 refugees from Africa and the Middle East drowned off the Italian island of Lampedusa, triggered a barrage of calls for action to prevent the Mediterranean Sea from turning into what French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called an open-air cemetery. Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta is urging European leaders to bolster the EUs Frontex border agency and bring forward Eurosur, a planned satellite-and-drone surveillance program to detect migrant ships in trouble. AFP