BERLIN-
German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a strong reproach to the United States and Britain over the sweeping digital spying revealed by fugitive IT contractor Edward Snowden on Wednesday.
In a major speech to parliament ahead of talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, Merkel said Western powers sacrificing freedom in the quest for security were sending the wrong signal to “billions of people living in undemocratic states”.
“Actions in which the ends justify the means, in which everything that is technically possible is done, violate trust, they sow distrust,” she said. “The end result is not more security but less.”
Merkel, whose own mobile phone was allegedly monitored by the US National Security Agency (NSA), is planning to travel to Washington in coming months for talks with President Barack Obama.
On Friday, she will hold talks with Kerry “on the transatlantic partnership and global political issues”, her spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed Kerry would travel to Berlin and Munich from Friday to Sunday to meet “senior German officials to discuss our ongoing bilateral cooperation as well as pressing international issues.”
In her speech, Merkel stressed that “Germany could not wish for a better partner than the United States” but also conceded that the allies remain “far apart” on the “ethical question” of freedom versus security in state surveillance.
“Is it right that our closest partners such as the United States and Britain gain access to all imaginable data, saying this is for their own security and the security of their partners?” asked Merkel.
“Is it right to act this way because others in the world do the same?” she added before also touching on alleged British spying at international talks.
“Is it right if in the end this is not about averting terrorist threats but, for example, gaining an advantage over allies in negotiations, at G20 summits or UN sessions?
“Our answer can only be: No, this can’t be right. Because it touches the very core of what cooperation between friendly and allied countries is about: trust”, she said.
-AGENCIES
