BERLIN
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for the quickest possible clarification over alleged U.S. wiretapping which targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel, ministers and bureaucrats.
“U.S.-German relations cannot remain unaffected, if these revelations turn out to be true,” Steinmeier said at press conference in Berlin on Friday, following talks with his Czech counterpart Lubomir Zaoralek.
“I hope the Americans would be helpful with the clarification,” he said.
The whistleblowing website WikiLeaks released new documents on Wednesday about the NSA’s alleged mass-surveillance activities, which included a top-secret report on wiretapped telephone conversations between Merkel and her aide in 2011 on the Greek economic crisis.
The site also leaked a list of 69 German government phone numbers that the NSA considered valued targets for interceptions.
Steinmeier said it was important to shed light on the claims, the targets, scope and fields of the alleged wiretapping.
He expressed hope that recent claims would not damage close cooperation with the U.S. in foreign policy.
On Thursday, Peter Altmaier, a close aide of Merkel and minister responsible for intelligence, summoned the U.S. ambassador to Germany, John B. Emerson, to the Prime Ministry, to convey Berlin’s protest.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert declined to comment on Friday on the details of the meeting between Altmaier and the U.S. ambassador.
“We are examining at the moment the information revealed by the media reports. We will inform the relevant committees of the parliament about the outcome,” Seibert told journalists at a regular press conference in Berlin.
The U.S. administration refused to comment on Thursday on the recent leaks but reiterated that at times the U.S. government conducts surveillance where national security is a concern. “And that applies to ordinary citizens and world leaders alike," said State Department spokesman John Kirby.
He added that Germany and the U.S. have a productive friendship and that is not going to change.
