UK foreign ministers
met in Berlin
in German Foreign
Ministry, identifies national alleged to have used
the British embassy to conduct covert
surveillance on electronic
surveillance on Angela
Merkel's government.
If the report has been confirmed, it
could worsen the partnership
be between Jeraman and Britain, which
have deprived strained by global electronic espionage
which is led by the
U.S., and is limited to countries that use English.
A German
official said: "We don't know anything about the report in the paper so
the head of our Europe department was asking the ambassador about it. It is not
an accusation. It is more of a clarification. We needed to know more."
In
London, the Foreign Office confirmed that the ambassador, Simon McDonald, had a
meeting with a senior official at the foreign ministry in Berlin "at his
invitation", but offered no further comment.
Bernd Riexinger,
said that if the allegations prove true, it will be he held a meeting between EU
countries who will discuss the financial sanctions against the UK.
But, The
spokesman described the prime minister's relations with Merkel as excellent.
"We have an excellent relationship with the German government and I
believe that will continue."
Last week the
German magazine Der Spiegel revealed that the U.S. embassy in Berlin has a roof
structure that is used by special units of the National Security Agency (NSA) to
monitor cellular telephone conversations German officials, including Merkel, in
government buildings nearby.
The
report, also based on Snowden documents, led to a strongly worded phone call
from Merkel to Barack Obama, and the summoning of the US ambassador to Berlin.
British and German officials stressed that the response to the British report
was milder – an "invitation" rather than a summons for McDonald.
However the statement, issued on the instructions of the German foreign
minister, Guido Westerwelle, used the verb gebeten, which means
"asked" or "requested".
The U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry said the
trade agreement "not
to be confused with any legitimate questions exist with respect to the NSA or anything else"
Electronic eavesdropping also triggered
controversy on Tuesday in New Zealand, where the government narrowly succeeded in passing legislation
obliging telecoms firms to give the country's security agencies access to their
networks.
source by http://www.theguardian.com
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