French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at at an EU summit on October 24, 2013.(Photo: AP)
(VOVworld) – France said last Saturday that "mutual confidence" had been re-established with Germany after German media reported Germany’s foreign intelligence agency had helped the US to spy on French firms and government offices.
The French Foreign Ministry said the information is not new and will not affect mutual confidence between the two countries.
Earlier, Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine said the BND foreign intelligence agency helped the US National Security Agency (NSA) for a decade spy on government officials and companies in Europe including Franco-German aerospace giant EADS, now called the Airbus Group.
German media have reported that BND officials helped US agencies spy on the French president's office, the French Foreign Ministry in Paris, and the European Commission.
German Government Spokesperson Steffen Seibert said there is no evidence of any significant US spying program directed at German or European private citizens.