EU to hold Brussels summit amid US spying row

EU to hold Brussels summit amid US spying row, Leader of Germany's Social Democrats says it would be hard to agreeing a free trade deal with the United States if US is spying.HT: Graphic.

An EU summit is due to begin in Brussels with fresh allegations of US spying threatening to overshadow talks.

It comes a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel called President Barack Obama over claims that the US had monitored her mobile phone.

France's President Francois Hollande is pressing for the issue to be put on the agenda following reports that millions of French calls had been monitored.

EU leaders will also discuss Europe's economic recovery and immigration

BBC Europe Editor Gavin Hewitt says some leaders are likely to want to use the summit to demand further clarification from Washington over the activities of its National Security Agency (NSA) in Europe.

The US is being called to account by its allies over allegations of spying based on material said to originate from fugitive American leaker Edward Snowden.

Mrs Merkel says she wants US officials to clarify the extent of their surveillance in Germany.Her spokesman said the German leader "views such practices... as completely unacceptable".

Mrs Merkel demanded an "immediate and comprehensive explanation", said Steffen Seibert in a statement."Among close friends and partners, as the Federal Republic of Germany and the US have been for decades, there should be no such monitoring of the communications of a head of government," the statement added.

The BBC's Stephen Evans in Berlin says Germany's morning papers echo a sense of outrage.

A front-page commentary in Thursday's Suddeutscher Zeitung - one of the country's most respected papers - refers to the "biggest affront".

It says an attack on Angela Merkel's mobile phone would be an attack on "her political heart".

The White House said President Obama had told Mrs Merkel that the US was not monitoring her calls and would not in the future. However, it left open the question of whether calls had been listened to in the past.

State-monitoring of phone calls has a particular resonance in Germany - Mrs Merkel herself grew up in East Germany, where phone-tapping was pervasive.

In July, German media carried comments by Edward Snowden suggesting the US National Security Agency worked closely with Germany and other Western states on a "no questions asked" basis, monitoring Germans' internet traffic, emails and phone calls.

"They [the NSA] are in bed with the Germans, just like with most other Western states," Mr Snowden was quoted as saying by Der Spiegel magazine - though Mrs Merkel denied any knowledge of the collaboration.

In June, President Obama assured Chancellor Merkel that German citizens were not being routinely spied upon. At the time, she was criticised by her political opponents for not being more sceptical.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The leader of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD), Sigmar Gabriel, said on Thursday it would be hard to imagine agreeing a free trade deal with the United States if the U.S. was infringing citizen's rights and privacy.

Gabriel was reacting to information received by Berlin that the United States may have tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone, and which has triggered outrage in Germany.

The SPD and Merkel's conservatives are currently engaged in talks on building a new coalition government
 Hmmmm....I he really wanted to destroy America as a Superpower......Would he do anything different? HE manages to turn every longtime ally of the U.S. against the U.S..