THE WORKING dinner of leaders of the European Union held during a two-day summit in Brussels on October 24 featured a debate on the recently revealed information that the US has allegedly eavesdropped on 35 political leaders, embassies and other international offices, said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. He did not rule out that Slovak leaders might also have been wiretapped, the TASR newswire reported.
Fico said that a stance on this matter was drawn up by Germany and France, with all remaining EU-member states joining it. The statement urges a proper investigation of the issue, so that espionage affairs currently discussed in the media do not reoccur.
“Leaders on one hand stressed the importance of joint effort in collecting information in the fight against terrorism, on the other hand, they also pointed to the [potential] level of mistrust, if we don't provide information to each other,” Fico said, as quoted by TASR.
French President Francois Hollande proposed that an ethical code for intelligence services in the EU should be introduced.
When asked by journalists as to whether Slovakia is not one of the countries that have been monitored to an unusual extent by US secret services, Fico did not rule out this possibility.
“I’m living in the real world,” he said, as quoted by TASR, adding that he is not thinking about this issue.
Mathew Miller of the US Embassy to Bratislava however told the private TV Markíza that the embassy would not comment on issues of security or intelligence services.
Source: TASR, Markíza
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
