EU to start trade talks with U.S.

BRUSSELS — The European Union confirmed Tuesday that free-trade negotiations with the United States should kick off as planned next week, despite widespread concerns over the alleged eavesdropping of EU diplomats.

The Commission, the EU’s executive branch that leads the negotiations on behalf of its 28 members, said the planned start of talks Monday in Washington “should not be affected” by the surveillance scandal that has emerged.

However, it insisted that the trans-Atlantic atmosphere needed to clear up for the talks to be successful.

“For such a comprehensive and ambitious negotiation to succeed, there needs to be confidence, transparency and clarity among the negotiating partners,” it said in a statement.

On Sunday, an apparent leak from former U.S. intelligence systems analyst Edward Snowden in a German mag- azine allegedly showed that the National Security Agency bugged the EU’s diplomatic offices in Washington and infiltrated its computer network.

French President Francois Hollande on Monday suggested that the scandal could derail the trade negotiations.

Yet EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said hinging the start of talks on such political issues as the eavesdropping scandal would amount to the EU shooting itself in the foot.