Then, last summer, Germany identified two government employees suspected of passing secrets to the USA, leading the German government to order the top USA intelligence official in the U.S. Embassy in Berlin to leave Germany. Emerson to the chancellery, the government said, a move that formally fell short of summoning the ambassador.
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In addition, Germany’s Public Prosecutor’s Office was reportedly considering launching new investigation into NSA spying activities. The second conversation was intercepted by British intelligence, which passed it to the NSA, according to WikiLeaks.
In fact, the latest list shows the spying focused more on economy issues, rather than on security. The list of targets also features the private telephone number of ex- finance minister Oskar Lafontaine, who resigned in 1999. He also claimed that the United Kingdom provided assistance to the NSA.
According to leaked information, the NSA did not only listen in on the minister’s phone line, but also other senior officials in the ministries of finance, economy and agriculture, which suggests that USA intelligence was interested above all in Germany’s economic and trade policies. The disclosures reignited the two-year-old furor over US surveillance programs that has weighed on bilateral relations and German attitudes toward the U.S.
The document, published in today’s Süddeutsche Zeitung daily, suggested then European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso was in favour of a “gentler approach” than debt relief, ex-ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet was “solidly opposed” and International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde “undecided”. It treads lightly and accepts a level of intrusion into European societies and economic and political affairs in order to maintain partnerships.
In April 2002, a “Memorandum of Agreement” – a six-page document with more than 70 pages of addendums – laid the foundations for a new and particularly close level of cooperation.
The new documents include 69 telephone numbers that are still in use, indicating that the spying could be ongoing. Over the years, however, it appears that the terms of the agreement were largely forgotten.
The timing of the documents’ release is curious: it comes just as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras changed his position and said that his country would in fact accept a deal by Greece’s creditors over the weekend.
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The United States, however, denied spying on the German chancellor.
