Public and Media Call for End to US-German Special Relationship

There are growing calls for an end to the special relationship between Germany and the US following a series of revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the CIA have been snooping on government officials as well as the media.

The German magazine Der Spiegel has joined a growing throng of people in calling for a re-set in German-US relations. In an opinion column, headlined "Merkel Must End Devil's Pact with America", the magazine said it was high time for Chancellor Angela Merkel to take action against the systematic spying. It said: 

"The German-American friendship no longer exists. It may still remain between citizens of both countries, but not between their governments."

It comes just weeks after Amnesty International released the result of a survey that showed 81 percent of Germans were opposed to US spying activities in their country. 

The issue of surveillance has become a thorny issue for Chancellor Angela Merkel after it was revealed by WikiLeaks that its own state security agency, the BND, assisted the NSA to conduct intelligence surveillance on top officials at the French Foreign Ministry, the Elysee Palace and European Commission.

RELEASE: NSA High Priority Targets For Germany https://t.co/iyc8PQnePb #SelectorList pic.twitter.com/4xvyreCV6o

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 1, 2015

Those revelations came on the back of the German Government being accused of lying to its parliament, the Bundestag, when it denied any knowledge of such collusion involving surveillance of European politicians and commercial companies, including Airbus, which has now filed a criminal complaint on the matter.

Media and Public Outrage 

Last week, when it emerged that the CIA had spied Der Spiegel, it cause outrage among journalists and human rights campaigners throughout the country.

The magazine reported evidence that US intelligence agencies spied on its journalists in summer 2011, when US agents informed the German intelligence service of its suspicions that Spiegel journalists had contacts within the German government. 

Der Spiegel has filed a complaint about the spying activities on Friday with the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe, alleging espionage activities and the violation of the privacy of its telecommunications.

When it emerged that the NSA had intercepted a conversation Merkel had with an adviser about the debt crisis in Greece in 2011, her chief of staff called in the US ambassador, John B. Emerson, to demand explanation.

A committee of the German Budestag is investigating the allegations of spying and Merkel has appointed a top lawyer to examine evidence of the targets involved.