The German Parliament opposition parties asked the German...
The German Parliament opposition parties asked the German government to support suspension of several agreements with the U.S. on data transfers and to pass a resolution to invite former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to testify before a parliamentary inquiry expected…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
to start next month. “This house can pass a resolution to bring Edward Snowden to Berlin to give us the information the NSA is not giving to us,” said Green Party member Hans-Christian Stroebele in the debate. Snowden is the only person willing and able to testify, he said. Stroebele, a member of the parliamentary control committee overseeing the German intelligence services, met Snowden at a surprise visit in Moscow late last year and has been promoting the invitation. Jan Korte, vice chairman of the Left Party, requested the suspension of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, Passenger Name Records and the Safe Harbor Agreement. “Diplomats caught in spying on our government in here in Germany should become ‘persona non grata,'” Korte said. Members of the ruling coalition of Conservatives and Social Democrats acknowledged the failure of the U.S. administration to provide adequate information requested by the German government with regard to the spy affair, which also targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel. “Responses provided so far are highly unsatisfactory,” said the parliamentary state secretary from the Ministry of the Interior. Negotiations on the no-spy-agreement are continuing, he said.