Friday

29th Mar 2024

EU intelligence agencies complicit in NSA snoops, US senator says

A top US senator told the European Parliament foreign relations committee on Tuesday (26 November) that US snooping was done “largely in co-ordination with your countries intelligence services.”

US Senator Chris Murphy, who chairs the senate's foreign relations subcommittee on European affairs, said the collection of so-called metadata is a “conversation that is more appropriate to have on a bilateral basis” with member states than with EU institutions.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • EU intelligence agencies fed metadata to the NSA, says US senator (Photo: *n3wjack's world in pixels)

Metadata can show a person’s habits as it includes a broad sweep of information including browsing history, map searches, email activity and smart phone GPS data.

Documents leaked by Edward Snowden to the Guardian newspaper show that the National Security Agency (NSA) collects and stores the metadata of millions of people, even if they are not suspected of any crime.

“The record has shown that in most all instances, these metadata collection programmes are done in co-ordination with our European allies,” said Murphy.

He stopped short of naming the member states involved but noted that US reforms are underway that “would essentially end the collection of metadata.”

The metadata collection statements back up similar comments made in October by the US spy chief General Keith Alexander who heads the NSA and Dianne Feinstein, a senator chairing the intelligence committee.

Murphy, along with two other US congressmen, was in Berlin on Monday before heading to Brussels in an effort to restore stretched ties with EU partners.

Murphy told MEPs that many in Congress believe the US had crossed a line “in the way which we have conducted espionage because we know the trust that has been breached through the tapping of the [German] Chancellor’s phone”.

But he said existing bilateral agreements should not be tied to “resolution of many these issues.”

He cited Swift, which involves the transfer of bank data between the US and the EU, the EU-US passenger name record agreement, and the current free trade negotiations.

“You don’t need to deliver an additional message to the United States by compromising our collective security through the suspension of these agreements,” he said.

The senator said the US was open to new data privacy agreements to ensure “that European rights are respected when they are using websites in the United States.”

But he warned that placing additional restrictions on the EU-US data exchange agreement known as Safe Harbour would have economic downsides.

“No one will ultimately be helped, no economy will be assisted if we compartmentalise the Internet,” he said.

The Safe Harbour agreement allows US companies to operate in Europe without EU oversight.

After it emerged that the agreement was being abused, the EU threatened to suspend it. In a review due on Wednesday, the commission is set to say the agreement must be more transparent.

But in warning to Washington, the review is also expected to note that it could still go ahead and suspend the agreement if improvements in its use are not made.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us