"Der Spiegel": Germany has been spying on its closest allies

Angela Merkel two years ago:

"We need trust among allies and partners," Merkel told reporters in Brussels. "Such trust now has to be built anew. This is what we have to think about."
"The United States of America and Europe face common challenges. We are allies," the German leader said. "But such an alliance can only be built on trust. That's why I repeat again: spying among friends, that cannot be."


Well, now it turns out the "honest" Germans have themselves carried out extensive spying on their closest allies:

The German newsmagazine "Spiegel Online" has reported that Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) eavesdropped on communications of several of its allied countries until late 2013.
According to reports, these operations may not all have taken place under the guidance of the US National Security Agency (NSA) but also under the BND's own initiative. Earlier this year, it had been revealed that the NSA commissioned the BND for years to spy on German targets using so-called "selectors" - search criteria used to flag activity with vested interests for the NSA.. The NSA was reported to have supplied the technology involved in this method of intelligence gathering.
The latest disclosures, however, might imply that the BND added its own choice of selectors to the list - an act which would fall outside its constitutional mandate and qualify as illegal. The BND is already under scrutiny for the legalities of doing the groundwork for a foreign spy agency by collaborating with the NSA..
Further setbacks for the BND
According to the report, Germany used thousands of such selectors in total, which ended up flagging communications of allied states. France and the United States were reported to be among the nations affected by the intelligence breach.

"From Brussels with love" - The European Union wants to have a spy agency of its own

In a time of belt tightening the EU might settle for this overcoat as the official
European Intelligence Service uniform. The special KGB coats are now on sale at
the "best Russian military surplus store" for only 499.95 USD!
 

"Europeans spy just as much, US intelligence chiefs say"

By this time it has - surprise, surprise - become clear the everybody is spying on each other, and also accusing others of spying. While this crazy security circus continues to catch the headlines, the bigwigs in Brussels are not prepared to sit on the sidelines.

They now want their own spy agency!

EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding has said the Union should create its own intelligence service by 2020.
Speaking on Monday (4 November) to Greek daily Naftemporiki on the US snooping scandal, she said: "What we need is to strengthen Europe in this field, so we can level the playing field with our US partners."
She added: "I would therefore wish to use this occasion to negotiate an agreement on stronger secret service co-operation among the EU member states - so that we can speak with a strong common voice to the US. The NSA needs a counterweight. My long-term proposal would therefore be to set up a European Intelligence Service by 2020."

Judging from the fact that the EU already has an extensive (and more or less useless) foreign service  and a plethora of other common "services", it is more than likely that we will soon be blessed with an European Intelligence Service, with hundreds of agents operating all over the world. And as the new EU Bonds will be recruited from all the (now) 28 member countries, they will of course all be spying on each other!