“This is not acceptable amongst allies,” French President Macron told a news conference after a virtual Franco-German meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“I am attached to the bond of trust that unites Europeans and Americans,” Macron said, adding that “there is no room for suspicion between us.”
“That is why what we are waiting for complete clarity. We requested that our Danish and American partners provide all the information on these revelations and on these past facts. We are awaiting these answers,” he said, Al Jazeera reported.
Giving her position, Merkel said she “could only agree” with the comments of the French leader.
According to a report by the Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR), an internal investigation by the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (FE), showed the US National Security Agency (NSA) used the FE to eavesdrop on Danish information cables to spy on senior officials in Sweden, Norway, France and Germany from 2012 to 2014.
In addition to Merkel, the NSA also spied on then-German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former German opposition leader Peer Steinbruck.
The investigation found the NSA had access to extensive data streams that run through internet cables to and from Denmark and intercepted everything from text messages and telephone calls to internet traffic including searches, chats and messaging services.
DR said its report was based on interviews with nine unnamed sources, all of whom were said to have had access to classified information held by the FE.
Earlier on Monday, Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hulqvist said it was “unacceptable to eavesdrop on allies”, adding “we want the cards on the table”.
Danish lawmaker Karsten Hoenge of the left-leaning Socialist People’s Party, which is supporting Denmark’s Social Democratic government, said on Monday that he would quiz the Scandinavian country’s defense and justice ministers in parliament about the case.
MA/PR
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