German spy chiefs to visit US over Merkel phone tap row

German spy chiefs will visit the US next week to demand explanations over the alleged tapping of the mobile phone of Chancellor Angela Merkel by American intelligence services.
"High-ranking government representatives will go rapidly to the United States in order to push forward discussions with the White House and the NSA on the allegations raised recently," said Georg Streiter, Merkel's deputy spokesman.
The delegation will include top officials from the German secret service, local media today quoted sources close to the intelligence service as saying.
Merkel said at the conclusion of the two-day EU summit in Brussels yesterday that Germany and France will together seek clarifications from the US over the alleged spying on Europeans by the National Security Agency (NSA) and lay the groundwork for new transatlantic cooperation among intelligence services.

"We are seeking the basis for a cooperation between our intelligence services, which is transparent, clear-cut and in line with the interests of the partners of an alliance," she told a news conference.
What is important now is to find a basis for future cooperation and to restore the trust broken by the spying row, she said.

The two countries, at the centre of the latest allegations of massive Internet and telephone surveillance by the NSA, agreed at the summit to work for a new deal with the US that may include a no-spy agreement and cooperation in intelligence gathering.

French president Francois Hollande said the aim of the initiative is to create the framework for future cooperation and to put an end to the "uncontrolled monitoring mechanisms".
He demanded from the US detailed clarification of its surveillance operations so far and a code of conduct for the future.
French newspapers reported last week that documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the agency had monitored millions of telephone calls and Internet communications of French citizens. Following the allegations, both France and Germany summoned the US envoys, a highly unusual move between the close allies.