U.S. urged to be part of a spying ‘code of conduct’
LONDON/WASHINGTON — Germany and France demanded America sign up to a new international “code of conduct” on intelligence gathering Friday after European Union leaders warned that revelations over the extent of U.S. “snooping” had damaged trust and hampered the fight against terrorism.
In an unprecedented statement, breaking the taboo that EU leaders should not discuss national security or secret service operations, the German chancellor and French president called for a new transatlantic pact to prevent American intelligence services spying on Europe.
“We need a code of good conduct to be adopted by the Europeans and we ourselves have to be clear that we should not do what we don’t want others to do,” French President Francois Hollande said.
“France and Germany will take an initiative. We will start discussing the matter with the Americans in order to agree a common framework that will be done by the end of the year, and the other Europeans who would like to join us will be welcome.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said new international agreements were needed to hold spy agencies in check after it emerged Thursday that her mobile phone may have been bugged by an American listening post in Berlin.
“The U.S. has every reason for wanting to have friends in the world of today. Trust needs to be rebuilt. That implies trust has been severely shaken,” she said. “Words will not be sufficient. True change will be needed.”
Asked if Britain had agreed to take part in the U.S.-Europe talks on intelligence, Merkel said Prime Minister David Cameron “was present at the discussion.
“He listened to it. He wasn’t against it.”
The surveillance was allegedly conducted by a listening post of the “special collection service, run jointly by the National Security Agency and the CIA, Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported Friday.
Signalling a growing hostility to the U.S. and Britain, Hollande said he was not interested in striking a similar deal to the “Five Eyes” no-spying agreement between the U.K., America, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
“The five countries, the U.S., U.K. and others, they have their own rules, or so I understand. We’re not within that framework and we don’t intend to join,” he said.