A German newspaper report about alleged US spying on EU institutions has threatened to complicate further an already challenging effort to forge a transatlantic trade agreement.
The first round of formal negotiations for the transatlantic trade and investment partnership, known as TTIP, are to begin in Washington next week. The pact is being counted on not only to boost sluggish economies but also solidify EU-US relations for another generation.
But the report in Der Spiegel, the German weekly, could make them more difficult by further inflaming EU-US disputes over data protection rules that have proved highly troublesome in recent years.
If proven true, the report would also damage the trust necessary to undertake such a complex and ambitious negotiation – a point made by Viviane Reding, EU justice commissioner, on Sunday.
“Partners do not spy on each other,” Ms Reding said, responding to a question at a citizens’ meeting in her native Luxembourg. “We cannot negotiate over a big transatlantic market if there is the slightest doubt that our partners are carrying out spying activities on the offices of our negotiators. The American authorities should eliminate any such doubt swiftly.”
Elmar Brok, chairman of the European parliament’s foreign affairs committee – and a member of the centre-right European People’s Party – expressed similar frustration. “The spying has taken on dimensions that I would never have thought possible from a democratic state,” he told Der Spiegel. “How should we still negotiate if we must fear that our negotiating position is being listened to beforehand?”
Read more: Snooping claims add new complication to tough EU-US trade talks - FT.com
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