The first talks to soothe transatlantic tensions to be restricted to data
privacy and Prism program after Britain and Sweden's veto
Britain has blocked the first crucial talks on intelligence and
espionage between European officials and their American counterparts
since the
NSA surveillance scandal erupted.
The talks, due to begin in Washington on Monday, will now be
restricted to issues of data privacy and the NSA's Prism programme
following a tense 24 hours of negotiations in Brussels between national
EU ambassadors. Britain, supported only by
Sweden, vetoed plans to launch two "working groups" on the espionage debacle with the Americans.
Instead, the talks will consist of one working group focused on the
NSA's Prism programme, which has been capturing and storing vast amounts
of internet and mobile phone metadata in
Europe.
The
disclosures in the Guardian over the past month have triggered a transatlantic crisis of confidence and
threatened to derail crucial free trade talks between the EU and the US, also due to be launched in Washington on Monday.
The talks on Prism and data privacy have been arranged to coincide
with the trade talks in an attempt to defuse the transatlantic tension.
EU diplomats and officials say the offer of talks by the Americans is
designed to enable the leaders of Germany and France to save face
following revelations about the scale of US espionage – particularly in
Germany, but also of French and other European embassies and missions in the US.
Other aspects of the dispute, such as more traditional spying and
intelligence matters, will be off limits for the Europeans after Britain
insisted the EU had no authority to discuss issues of national security
and intelligence.
"It was decided. It finished successfully," said Dalia Grybauskaitė, the president of
Lithuania,
which has just assumed the EU's six-month rotating presidency and which
mediated the sensitive talks in Brussels over the past two da
ys
Note: Several
members of the EU-Parliament have said in relation to the above that
the EU-Commission is showing "no balls" when it comes to confronting the
Americans about their spying activities on European Citizens. As one parliamentarian noted: "who needs enemies when you have friends like this".
Read more: NSA leaks: UK blocks crucial espionage talks between US and Europe | World news | The Guardian
