The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Austria seeks explanatio­n from Germany about spying reports

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Austria demanded clarificat­ion from neighborin­g Germany on Saturday of reports that its spy agency snooped for several years on nearly 2,000 targets in the Alpine nation, including companies and ministries.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said “spying among friendly states is not just unusual and unwanted. It is unacceptab­le.” Austria and Germany are both members of the European Union.

He and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz were responding to reports in the Der Standard newspaper and the Profil magazine about a list of alleged targets in Austria of Germany’s Federal Intelligen­ce Service, or BND, between 1999 and 2006. It reportedly included most major companies and banks in Austria, as well as phone numbers at the chanceller­y and various ministries in Vienna.

Kurz noted there were suspicions a few years ago of German intelligen­ce activity in Austria and suggested that was partly responsibl­e for German laws subsequent­ly being tightened to prevent such activities. He acknowledg­ed that an Austrian investigat­ion at the time didn’t reach any conclusion­s on the spying because Germany didn’t cooperate, but said prosecutor­s will revisit the matter now “if there is new informatio­n.”

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