14 DAY TRIAL // The NSA scandal has been used as a political tool since its first days, starting, of course, with the United States politicians who made it a point to sound scandalized in the hopes of getting some support from the electorate.
Now, it’s Germany’s turn. With elections just around the corner, it wasn’t exactly a secret that Angela Merkel tried her best to diffuse the situation and demand answers from the US over mass surveillance, while the country’s own intelligence agency worked with the NSA.
Now, Merkel’s main rival, finance minister Peer Steinbruck pledged to suspend trade talks between the United States and the European Union over the National Security Agency spying scandal if he becomes chancellor following next month’s general election.
“I would interrupt the negotiations until the Americans say if German government offices and European institutions are bugged or wiretapped. We don’t know if the Americans may be sitting under our desks with some technical devices,” the minister said as The Guardian reports.
This isn’t the first time EU officials bring the trade deal in discussion. Immediately after it was revealed that the NSA had been spying on EU diplomats and over 80 foreign embassies, France had a particularly strong reaction and demanded to halt the talks regarding the biggest trade deal between the US and the European Union.
However, nothing came of it and the talks still took place, despite some reluctance from European leaders.
It was also revealed that the NSA was collecting an overwhelming number of communications from Germany, which caused a general public outcry, as well as numerous demands for an explanation.
That being said, betting on the feelings of the general public in regards to the NSA spying saga seems to be quite safe, but whether Angela Merkel will lose the chair she occupied back in 2005 remains to be seen.