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France Demands EU Report on American Espionage System
France claims explanations by the European Union's Echelon Committee on the bloc's security systems are not clear and are demanding a more detailed report, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said Thursday in a interview with Radio France International.
"The explanations provided are not perfectly clear," he said.
The committee presented a mid-term review Wednesday of Washington's global Echelon spy network, claiming there is no proof that US intelligence is using the system for the benefit of their industries.
The committee's work received attention last February when Britain's Desmond Perkins, responsible for the European Commission's communication security system, said the Brussels' encryption system was absolutely safe because it had been tested by the US National Security Agency (NSA).
The Commission, executive body of the 15-nation bloc, firmly denied any connection with NSA, an American organization believed to be engaged in espionage activities around the world, said EU security has never been compromised.
"I demand the Commission provide a report to explain what happened. We will then see what lesson we can learn from it," said
the French foreign minister.
"No one has ever thought about putting this (encryption) system under (American) custody," said Vedrine, "but it should be known what information might have been provided (to the Americans) in case the attempt at espionage did exist."
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