Britain is untrustworthy, say MEPs in spy inquiry Special report: the European parliament
Ian Black in Brussels Guardian
Wednesday April 25, 2001
Britain was singled out for criticism yesterday as members of the European parliament put the finishing touches to their controversial investigation into a global surveillance network run by the US.
While the biggest target of next month's report is likely to be France - whose extensive network for electronic interception at home and abroad is not subject to any parliamentary supervision - Britain was accused by several MEPs of being untrustworthy in EU terms because of its relationship with the US.
But sources in the temporary parliamentary committee set up to look into Echelon - a group whose creation was initially opposed by the British government - admitted last night that it will not be possible to prove definitively that the US uses economic espionage to help its firms win contracts as a matter of policy, though there are some isolated examples.
Last year it was alleged that the US used Echelon to beat the European consortium Airbus on an aircraft deal with Saudi Arabia.
Echelon, established during the cold war, is a network of listening posts reported to be capable of intercepting millions of telephone, fax and email messages.
MEPs want to draw attention to hi-tech surveillance and its implications for privacy, and are expected to point out the need for proper regimes in EU states to oversee the use of such surveillance, committee sources said. France is considered a culprit.
Britain has been wary because the surveillance and intelligence issue has been presented as one where a choice has to be made between loyalty to the US and to European partners - and also because intelligence and security matters are normally off-limits for consideration by the EU.
An espionage expert, Nicky Hager - whose native New Zealand is part of the Echelon network - told the committeee yesterday that interception facilities at Morwenstow in Cornwall and Menwith Hill in Yorkshire were almost certainly used to spy on European targets.
Mr Hager urged the committee to encourage greater public use of encryption techniques to guard their privacy.
He also argued that Britain was in a uniquely sensitive position because of its EU membership and close US relations."It is only secrecy that allows the British government to maintain two incompatible positions at once," he said.
Several MEPs insisted that Britain's relationship with the US meant that it could not be trusted by its EU partners.
"Britain has one leg in Europe and one in mid-Atlantic," said the committee's chairman, Gerhard Schmid, a German Social Democrat. "If there are conflicts of interest between the EU and the US there could be potential conflict for the UK."
Giuseppe Di Lello Finuoli, an Italian leftwinger, protested that Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping station in Cheltenham, which works with the US national security agency, had tested encryption equipment being used by the EU council of ministers, responsible for developing the union's fledgling rapid reaction force.
Committee members visit Washington early next month for talks with senior intelligence figures before finalising their keenly awaited report.
Earlier this year they saw Jack Straw, Britain's home secretary, but did not get the meeting they wanted with the foreign secretary, Robin Cook, who has ministerial responsibility for GCHQ and the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6.
Britain has never denied helping the US operate Echelon listening posts and satellites, as do Canada, Australia and New Zealand under a long-term agreement.
London's position is that any interception of communications carried out by GCHQ is covered by strict legal guidelines, ministerial control and parliamentary supervision. Only threats to the supply of energy, commodities and raw materials or attempts to manipulate or undermine financial markets would justify interception, the government says.