US spied on German chancellor Angela Merkel: Report

Washington: Newly released media reports claim that the United States National Security Agency spied on several prominent European politicians, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, with the help of Danish intelligence. This was exposed by the Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio.

While it is not clear if the Danish government authorised the tapping, the reports claim phone conversations, chats, messages and internet details were collected by the NSA between 2012 and 2014. The allegations were published after a joint investigation with Sweden's SVT, Norway's NRK, France's Le Monde, and Germany's NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung. Denmark hosts landing stations for underwater internet cables to and from several parts of Europe.

France's Europe Minister responded to the report saying they were extremely serious if proven. "We need to see if our partners in the EU, the Danes, have committed errors in their cooperation with American services. Between allies, there must be trust, minimal cooperation." Both the NSA and Denmark officials have yet to respond to the reports.

The US tapping the German chancellor's phone was exposed, along with a series of exposes, as early as 2013 by activist and whistle-blower Edward Snowden. Snowden, currently in Russia in political asylum, accused Joe Biden and tweeted that "Biden is well-prepared to answer for this when he soon visits Europe since, of course, he was deeply involved in this scandal the first time around. There should be an explicit requirement for full public disclosure not only from Denmark but their senior partner as well."