Orkhan Sattarov, head of the European bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza
Since German's Der Spiegel got information about the interception of Angela Merkel’s mobile phone calls by the American special services, the German political elite has been in shock. Before publishing the information, the periodical sent it to the German special services for checking. The fact that information was true was confirmed by the immediate response by officials and politicians of Germany.
Spiegel notes that Obama got into a stalemate situation. Nobody can believe statements by the U.S. officials that their special services have been involved into interception of phone calls to prevent terrorism and cyber crimes, after the case interception of Angela Merkel’s calls. There are two variants: either Barack Obama approved the interception of the German chancellor’s calls or he absolutely lost control over his own special services, the periodical said.
Angela Merkel’s response
Angela Merkel demanded explanations during an emergency call to the U.S. President on Wednesday. The chancellor made it clear that “if the information is confirmed, she criticizes this heavily and believes that the practice is unacceptable,” Steffen Seiberg, the speaker of the government, said. “There must be no espionage between friends. It is a serious strike on trust. The practice must be stopped immediately. Angela Merkel told President Obama that she expected from the U.S. authorities information on the whole volume of spying activity against Germany, i.e. responds to requests which the federal government sent several months ago,” Seiberg said.
German politician’s response
The German Minister for Internal Affairs, Hans Peter Friedrich who is thought to be a friendly to the U.S., has changed his moderate position and demanded explanations from the Americans.
The chairman of the Socialist Party Sigmar Gabriel and the speaker of the European Parliament Shultz put into question the signing of the agreement on free trade between the EU and the U.S.A.
The German Foreign Minister Gido Westerwelle called for the American ambassador to discuss the situation. Focus reports that it was the first call for an American ambassador to the German Foreign Ministry since the end of the Second World War. The German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere precisely expressed the German’s shock from the American behavior: “I have many years lived with the thought that my calls are probably intercepted. However, I couldn’t assume that they could be intercepted by the Americans.”
The Federal Commissionaire on Datasafe Peter Shaar demanded decisive steps from the new German government against the American espionage. “The information that Chancellor’s calls are intercepted by the American special services shows nonsense of attempts to declare the end of discussions of interception of common citizens’ calls,” Shaar told the Bayern Newspaper. “Considering the new data, it was absolutely irresponsible not to demand explanations from the U.S. more decisively,” he noted.
The German General Prosecution sent corresponding requests to special services of the country, and when they response probably investigation will be initiated.
The leader of the communist party The Lefts Katja Kipping addressed Merkel to give evidence of interception of her calls to Bundestag.
Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande (Le Monde also published information from Edward Snowden about mass interception of calls in France) plan to discuss the current situation at the EU summit in Brussels next week.
Angela Merkel’s government will have to face criticism by the political opposition and society. On August 16th the internal minister tried to close the case on interception of common German citizens’ calls by American special services, using Prism program. Moreover, the situation damages the image of German special services which failed to prevent interception of Chancellor’s calls. Probably the Federal Information Service will be reorganized, after the case.
America’s respond
The first response by the U.S. to accusations of interception was ambiguously perceived by Berlin. The American government stated that American special serviced “do not intercept and will not intercept” telephone calls of Herman Chancellor. At the same time, it was notable that the U.S. representative didn’t answer the question whether they were intercepted in the past. However, it seems the answer to the question is clear not only for Washington, but also for Berlin.
