EU-US Talk Trade Ignoring Spy Talk

The first round of EU-US trade talks will begin in Washington next week as scheduled, the European Commission confirmed on Tuesday, despite growing unease among EU member states over claims that US intelligence agencies have engaged in spying on their trans-Atlantic partners.

The usually amicable EU-US relationship hit a snag over the weekend following a report by German magazine Der Spiegel that claimed that US intelligence services had bugged the EU mission in New York, as well as the embassies of France, Greece, and Italy in Washington and Commission headquarters in Brussels.

The allegations were based on documents released by former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, whose unauthorised disclosure of confidential government files ignited an international debate on privacy last month.

The two sides have the world’s largest trading relationship, with bilateral flows of goods and services averaging US$2.7 billion a day in 2012.