Spain to Summon US Ambassador over Spy Reports
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Friday he would call in the US ambassador to Madrid to explain reports of American spying on the country, a close ally of Washington.
"We do not have evidence that Spain has been spied on ... but we are calling in the ambassador to get information," Rajoy said after an EU summit dominated by the growing scandal over US intelligence activities in supposedly friendly countries.
Spanish media reports said the US National Security Agency had spied on several members of the government and politicians, including former Socialist prime minister, Rodriguez Zapatero.
According to AFP, Germany called in the US ambassador to Berlin earlier this week after reports the Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone had been tapped.
"Spying between friends, that's just not done," Merkel said.
The 28 European Union leaders earlier approved a statement which said they valued the relationship with the United States but it had to be based on trust and confidence, especially in intelligence matters.
France and Germany are to lead efforts to reach a new understanding with Washington by the end of this year.
Rajoy said that for the moment, Spain would not join Berlin and Paris in this effort and reiterated that intelligence issues were the responsibility of national governments, not of the EU.
On Thursday, the UK's Guardian newspaper also reported that it had obtained a confidential memo from the NSA suggesting it had monitored the phones of 35 world leaders.
The latest revelations have been sourced to US whistleblower Edward Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who fled the country earlier this year and is now in Russia.