Ironically, the news comes the day after the French parliament adopted the final version of an anti-terrorism law that gives a wide range of surveillance powers to the country's intelligence agencies.
RELEASE: Espionnage Élysée — how the NSA bugged Hollande, Sarkozy and Chirac https://t.co/uflJlxeJdO pic.twitter.com/k8hDycaxNV
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 23, 2015
Assange told TF1 that France should launch a "parliamentary inquiry" following its revelation this week that Washington had spied on three French presidents, sparking fresh outrage over the mass surveillance by the US National Security Agency (NSA).
His comments come as Germany's parliament is carrying out an investigation into the co-operation its own security agency, BND, gave to the NSA when it allegedly spied on EU officials as well as European companies in Germany, including Airbus.
#FrenchLeaks media note: We never reveal our sources but we can say our materials are authentic and that we have a perfect record.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 24, 2015
German prosecutors dropped an investigation into the alleged tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone by the NSA for lack of hard evidence.
More Revelations to Come
Assange said France should go further than Germany: by referring "the matter to the prosecutor-general for prosecution." He said: "I think from a policy perspective what is to come is much more significant than what we have published so far.
Where was the main stream media when 3 French presidents where having phone calls tapped by an ally? #FrenchLeaks https://t.co/x3OVzGHnlL
— Mike Stuart (@mpgstuart) June 25, 2015
"But now the question really for (President François) Hollande and the French leadership is what are the opportunities in their response to address this situation."
Revealing that more revelations on the matter were due to be published soon. Assange accused the US of playing "word games."
"Every single one of these intercepted phone calls that we have published is Hollande talking to someone else, Sarkozy talking to someone else, one of the members of the French government. What does it matter if they say that they're not going to spy on Hollande personally if they're spying on everyone he talks to?"
