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Hollande has told his US counterpart that such spying was unacceptable
France has joined a growing chorus of nations who have angrily condemned Washington’s National Security Agency (NSA) overseas spying programme.
According to a statement from the Elysee Palace on Tuesday, President Francois Hollande told his American counterpart that the NSA’s monitoring of French citizens was unacceptable.
Hours earlier, French media revealed information based on leaked documents provided by NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden that at least 70 million phone calls had been ‘spied’ on by US intelligence services during a period of four weeks at the beginning of the year.
The statement went on to say that Hollande disapproved of the way the US treated its “allies”.
France is the latest country to condemn the NSA’s overseas spying approach.
On Sunday, the Mexican foreign ministry said the espionage was “unacceptable, unlawful and is contrary to Mexican law and international law”.
In September, Brazil responded firmly to revelations it was a target of NSA spying. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff canceled a previously scheduled official state visit to the US and during the General Assembly two weeks ago accused Washington of being in breach of international law.
In July, US ally Germany also condemned US spying on its officials and senior ranking politicians.
Lode Vanoost, a former deputy speaker of the Belgian Parliament and international consultant, says that the US is losing economic power and that this could fuel an urge to spy on allies.
“US snooping on the EU, its most trusted ally, can therefore only mean one thing – this is about economic spying and about gathering economic information,” he writes for The BRICS Post.
In recent weeks, both Brazil and India have reported that their major industries have been spied on by the NSA.
Source: Agencies
