Germany engaged in ‘political espionage’ for US: Report

A report has revealed that German intelligence services were spying on high-ranking French officials and the European Commission for the US National Security Agency (NSA).

Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency helped the NSA carry out “political espionage”, AFP quoted a report due to be published in the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Thursday.

The BND surveyed “top officials at the French Foreign Ministry, the Elysee Palace and European Commission,” said the report.

According to the German newspaper, the heart of the problem is the “political espionage” against neighboring European countries and EU organizations.

On Monday, Germany’s Bild daily reported that Germany was spying on European companies on behalf of the United States.

The NSA reportedly attempted to spy on phone numbers and e-mail addresses at the European multinational aerospace and defense corporation Airbus Group, formerly known as the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS), and Eurocopter Group, now called Airbus Helicopters.

The German daily said it had seen two documents sent by the BND to the German chancellery dating back to 2008 and 2010, informing it of the NSA activities.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has offered to explain the situation at a parliamentary committee probing NSA activities next week.

In 2013, Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, blew the whistle on the NSA, suggesting Washington had been conducting massive Internet and phone data spying on “friendly countries and their leaders,” including Germany. The revelation outraged Chancellor Merkel.

According to the revelations, which soured relations between Germany and the United States, the NSA had tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone.