Germany Intelligence Services Should Give Up Dependence on US – Lawmaker

Germany should be more independent from the United States in its intelligence activities, a German lawmaker from Die Linke party told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — "The Merkel government should stand more clear for independence from the US," Andrej Hunko told Sputnik. "Sometimes it seems that some Latin American states have more independence from the US than Germany, because they speak out and have more courage. We need more courage."

An espionage scandal erupted in mid-April after German media uncovered internal intelligence investigation documents alleging the use of BND technical capabilities to spy on high-ranking European officials and corporations at the request of NSA.

Hunko noted that Germany should not tolerate such developments in its own secrete services.

German lawmakers are now pressing the government to provide them with a full list of the European targets BND spied on for the NSA.

According to the sources of German tabloid Bild, in light of this scandal US President Barack Obama could skip the Group of Seven (G7) June summit in Germany if the German government hands over a list of US spying targets to the parliament.

The head of the Socialist Democrat party (SPD), Sigmar Gabriel, said the disclosure was not an ultimatum, but added that he expected Angela Merkel to comply with their demands.

A G7 summit is scheduled to kick off on June 7 in Bavaria’s Elmau Castle, less than 60 miles from the notorious Bad Aibling monitoring station used by the NSA to eavesdrop on EU companies and officials.