guardian | Germany and the US will begin talks as soon as Monday, to address mounting European concerns over internet surveillance that are threatening to overshadow trade negotiations and damage Silicon Valley exports.
A
German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said a working group of
high-level US and German intelligence experts will begin "an immediate
and intense discussion" over the issues of data protection and
intelligence collection revealed by the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.
This
follows the clearest acknowledgement yet by the White House of how the
affair is damaging transatlantic relations. In a phone call on
Wednesday, President Barack Obama assured Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, "that the United States
takes seriously the concerns" – despite his having previously dismissed
the spying allegations as no different from activities undertaken by
many other countries.
The European Commission also underlined the commercial threat to the US on Thursday by warning that European businesses are likely to abandon the services of American internet providers because of the NSA
surveillance scandal. Neelie Kroes, the EC vice-president who speaks on
digital affairs, predicted that providers of cloud services, which
allow users to store and access data on remote servers, could suffer
significant loss of business if clients fear the security of their
material is under threat.
The French government called for a
suspension of long-awaited talks on a new transatlantic free-trade pact,
due to start on Monday, while the US explains its surveillance
practices. European ambassadors eventually agreed to go ahead with
negotiations in parallel.
France's top security official publicly
admonished the United States at the American ambassador's 4 July garden
party, denouncing alleged US "espionage"
of France and other countries. Interior minister Manuel Valls was guest
of honor at the fête, which was hosted by ambassador Charles Rivkin on
Thursday. In a speech before hundreds of guests, he said that "in the
name of our friendship, we owe each other honesty. We must say things
clearly, directly, frankly".
Valls said that President François
Hollande's demand for clear and precise explanations about reports of
spying are justified because "such practices, if proven, do not have
their place between allies and partners".
In the US, initial anger over domestic surveillance has been distracted in recent days by attempts to capture Snowden, but the forthcoming talks are likely to refocus attention on the White House. James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, also faces the prospect of new congressional hearings to explain why he previously misled the Senate intelligence committee over the extent of data gathered on US citizens.
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