Spying on friends

Ever since a whistleblower working for the US National Security Agency (NSA), Edward Snowden, uncovered the country's vast foreign surveillance programmes, EU officials were worried, raising concerns about possible breach of the member states' rights. They did not have to wait for long. German weekly "Der Spiegel" has published a report detailing US snooping on EU diplomatic missions in Washington and New York as well as its Brussels headquarters.
The report reveals microphones were installed in diplomatic offices of EU, and telephone lines and computer networks were tapped for obtaining access to emails and internal documents. Unsurprisingly, among the European nations designated as 'targets' EU economic powerhouse, Germany, has been the most spied-upon country where NSA tapped into a mind-boggling 500 million phone calls, emails and SMS's each month.
As expected the Europeans are "deeply worried and shocked" by the revelations that a partner would treat them like the Cold War adversaries. Brussels, Berlin, Paris are all demanding an explanation from Washington about the reports, saying if the allegations are true (there is no reason to doubt their veracity; still, a formal US response is in order), they would have a serious impact on EU-US relations, especially the recently started free trade talks. "We cannot negotiate on a giant transatlantic market when there is even the slightest suspicion that our partners are spying the offices of the negotiators," said the EU justice commissioner, Viviane Reding. Meanwhile, the Greens in the European Parliament have called for immediate suspension of the talks.
The intelligence activity underscores the fact that when it comes to self-interest even best friends cannot be trusted at all times. The EU and the US, world's two most influential economic and military powers, share common interests in dealing with the rest of the world. Yet the transatlantic relationship has had its own ups and downs. Within the EU, unlike Britain, Germany and France do not always follow the US' lead, such as at the time of the invasion of Iraq when the two sides had a fierce exchange of barbs. EU policy on Iran's nuclear programme is also more nuanced as opposed to the US' approach of threat and intimidation. They do not see eye to eye, either, on global environmental issues. And, of course, the US needs to win favourable terms of trade in the just-initiated talks. It is not surprising, therefore, if it wanted to snoop on the Europeans to know their thinking on policy differences to resolve issues of concern to its advantage. But the sheer depth and scale of the spying operations involving friendly countries is incredible. It will take a while for the relationship to get back on track.