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| Germany and France Propose Talks With U.S. to Rein In Spying | Germany and France Propose Talks With U.S. to Rein In Spying |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| BERLIN — While President Obama has tried to soften the blow, this week’s disclosures about the extent of America’s spying on its European allies have added to a series of issues that have sharply eroded confidence in United States leadership at a particularly difficult moment. | BERLIN — While President Obama has tried to soften the blow, this week’s disclosures about the extent of America’s spying on its European allies have added to a series of issues that have sharply eroded confidence in United States leadership at a particularly difficult moment. |
| The sharp words from Germany, France and others this week are part of a broader set of frustrations over issues like the Syrian civil war, the danger posed to the global economy by Washington’s fiscal fights and the broader perception that the president himself — for all his promises to rebuild relations with allies following the Bush presidency — is an unreliable partner. | The sharp words from Germany, France and others this week are part of a broader set of frustrations over issues like the Syrian civil war, the danger posed to the global economy by Washington’s fiscal fights and the broader perception that the president himself — for all his promises to rebuild relations with allies following the Bush presidency — is an unreliable partner. |
| This American administration is “misreading and miscalculating the effects” of its deeds in a Europe that is less ready than it once was to heed the United States, said Annette Heuser, executive director of the Bertelsmann Foundation, a research organization in Washington. | This American administration is “misreading and miscalculating the effects” of its deeds in a Europe that is less ready than it once was to heed the United States, said Annette Heuser, executive director of the Bertelsmann Foundation, a research organization in Washington. |
| Early on Friday, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President François Hollande of France emerged from a meeting of European leaders to call for talks with the United States on new rules for their intelligence relationship. A statement from the European leaders said a “lack of trust” could undermine trans-Atlantic intelligence cooperation. | |
| Earlier in the week the European Parliament had acted to suspend an agreement with the United States that allows it to track the finances of terrorist groups, citing suspicions that the United States authorities were tapping European citizens’ personal financial data. | Earlier in the week the European Parliament had acted to suspend an agreement with the United States that allows it to track the finances of terrorist groups, citing suspicions that the United States authorities were tapping European citizens’ personal financial data. |
| The disclosures contained in the documents leaked by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden have crystallized a growing sense in Europe that post-9/11 America has lost some of the values of privacy and accountability that have been the source of the world’s admiration for its version of democracy. | The disclosures contained in the documents leaked by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden have crystallized a growing sense in Europe that post-9/11 America has lost some of the values of privacy and accountability that have been the source of the world’s admiration for its version of democracy. |
| So fierce was the anger in Berlin over suspicions that American intelligence had tapped into Mrs. Merkel’s cellphone that Elmar Brok of Germany, the chairman of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee and a pillar of trans-Atlantic exchanges since 1984, spoke Friday of America’s security establishment as a creepy “state within a state.” | So fierce was the anger in Berlin over suspicions that American intelligence had tapped into Mrs. Merkel’s cellphone that Elmar Brok of Germany, the chairman of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee and a pillar of trans-Atlantic exchanges since 1984, spoke Friday of America’s security establishment as a creepy “state within a state.” |
| Since Sept. 11, 2001, he said, “the balance between freedom and security has been lost.” | Since Sept. 11, 2001, he said, “the balance between freedom and security has been lost.” |
| To be sure, the United States and Europe are like a bickering couple that will never break up. For all the sharp words, they cannot even begin to contemplate an actual divorce. Many of the European complaints about the United States also seem directed mainly at a domestic audience, and may not result in concrete changes to a relationship that has weathered many storms. | To be sure, the United States and Europe are like a bickering couple that will never break up. For all the sharp words, they cannot even begin to contemplate an actual divorce. Many of the European complaints about the United States also seem directed mainly at a domestic audience, and may not result in concrete changes to a relationship that has weathered many storms. |
| But the United States under Mr. Obama had lost a considerable amount of European patience and good will even before the latest round of disclosures from the leaked N.S.A. documents. | But the United States under Mr. Obama had lost a considerable amount of European patience and good will even before the latest round of disclosures from the leaked N.S.A. documents. |
| First came the diplomatic shambles over Syria, where, in late summer, the United States seemed poised for military action following the killing of hundreds by chemical weapons. France keenly backed America, as did Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron. But Mr. Cameron unexpectedly failed to get support from his Parliament, Mr. Obama wavered, Russia stepped into the breach with a last-minute diplomatic solution that left Germany and other nations diplomatically bruised, and France was left hanging out to dry. | First came the diplomatic shambles over Syria, where, in late summer, the United States seemed poised for military action following the killing of hundreds by chemical weapons. France keenly backed America, as did Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron. But Mr. Cameron unexpectedly failed to get support from his Parliament, Mr. Obama wavered, Russia stepped into the breach with a last-minute diplomatic solution that left Germany and other nations diplomatically bruised, and France was left hanging out to dry. |
| Barely had the trans-Atlantic partners gotten over that discomfort than the divisive partisan politics of Washington precipitated a government shutdown and brought the United States — and thus Europe and the world — to the brink of default and economic turmoil. | Barely had the trans-Atlantic partners gotten over that discomfort than the divisive partisan politics of Washington precipitated a government shutdown and brought the United States — and thus Europe and the world — to the brink of default and economic turmoil. |
| This week, two American ambassadors, Charles H. Rivkin in France and John B. Emerson in Germany, were summoned to the Foreign Ministries in Paris and Berlin for a dressing down by two of America’s closest friends. The depressing spectacle reversed the traditional roles played by Europe and America, certainly for Germany. France is a proud nuclear power, and while relations have been exceptionally warm in recent years, it is strongly independent and a frequent critic, particularly of American culture. | This week, two American ambassadors, Charles H. Rivkin in France and John B. Emerson in Germany, were summoned to the Foreign Ministries in Paris and Berlin for a dressing down by two of America’s closest friends. The depressing spectacle reversed the traditional roles played by Europe and America, certainly for Germany. France is a proud nuclear power, and while relations have been exceptionally warm in recent years, it is strongly independent and a frequent critic, particularly of American culture. |
| Still, it was unusual to hear the foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, lecture so sternly. | Still, it was unusual to hear the foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, lecture so sternly. |
| “This sort of practice between partners that invades privacy is totally unacceptable and we have to make sure, very quickly, that this no longer happens,” he said. “We fully agree that we cooperate to fight terrorism. It is indispensable. But this does not justify that personal data of millions of our compatriots are snooped on.” | “This sort of practice between partners that invades privacy is totally unacceptable and we have to make sure, very quickly, that this no longer happens,” he said. “We fully agree that we cooperate to fight terrorism. It is indispensable. But this does not justify that personal data of millions of our compatriots are snooped on.” |
| Germany, basically a post-World War II creation of the United States and its allies, is much less accustomed to such lecturing, with Germans to this day frequently referring to the United States as their country’s school for democracy. | |
| Now, said Guntram Wulff, director of Breugel, a policy organization in Brussels, “the students are calling the teacher,” reminding the Obama administration of democratic values. | Now, said Guntram Wulff, director of Breugel, a policy organization in Brussels, “the students are calling the teacher,” reminding the Obama administration of democratic values. |
| That the call came from a German chancellor who was raised in Communist East Germany, and thus has personal familiarity with government spying, heightened the irony and the bitterness. | That the call came from a German chancellor who was raised in Communist East Germany, and thus has personal familiarity with government spying, heightened the irony and the bitterness. |
| The Snowden documents have led to calls in a number of European countries, especially Germany, for greater assurance that the digital privacy of their citizens is respected within Europe and beyond. | The Snowden documents have led to calls in a number of European countries, especially Germany, for greater assurance that the digital privacy of their citizens is respected within Europe and beyond. |
| How much leverage Europeans have in order to achieve that in a borderless Internet world is questionable, although as Ms. Heuser noted, the past week has united them as never before in their calls for privacy and better data protection. Even Mr. Cameron of Britain, whose intelligence services are closely allied with their counterparts in the United States, backed the French and Germans in their quest for American cooperation in setting and sticking to new rules for an era of digital data. | How much leverage Europeans have in order to achieve that in a borderless Internet world is questionable, although as Ms. Heuser noted, the past week has united them as never before in their calls for privacy and better data protection. Even Mr. Cameron of Britain, whose intelligence services are closely allied with their counterparts in the United States, backed the French and Germans in their quest for American cooperation in setting and sticking to new rules for an era of digital data. |
| Yet, even united, the Europeans often feel like bystanders, powerless to stop the dithering or insensitivity of their partner, the world’s No. 1 power. Threats to halt talks on a trans-Atlantic trade deal that would create a free market of about 800 million people in Europe and the United States are empty, since the deal would produce much needed growth and create jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. | Yet, even united, the Europeans often feel like bystanders, powerless to stop the dithering or insensitivity of their partner, the world’s No. 1 power. Threats to halt talks on a trans-Atlantic trade deal that would create a free market of about 800 million people in Europe and the United States are empty, since the deal would produce much needed growth and create jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. |
| That mutual dependence has kept the old couple together for decades. But many analysts warn that the younger generation may be far more fickle. The old guard Atlanticists who nurtured modern Germany knew war, or cold war and division. A year of study in America constituted their discovery of the world. | That mutual dependence has kept the old couple together for decades. But many analysts warn that the younger generation may be far more fickle. The old guard Atlanticists who nurtured modern Germany knew war, or cold war and division. A year of study in America constituted their discovery of the world. |
| Today’s young Europeans can go anywhere, and glean information from all sorts of sources. A job in Shanghai, Singapore or India is seen as little different from one in Los Angeles or New York, noted Ms. Heuser. Meanwhile, in the United States Congress, there are fewer and fewer young members with foreign experience, something once gained, in many cases by military service. | Today’s young Europeans can go anywhere, and glean information from all sorts of sources. A job in Shanghai, Singapore or India is seen as little different from one in Los Angeles or New York, noted Ms. Heuser. Meanwhile, in the United States Congress, there are fewer and fewer young members with foreign experience, something once gained, in many cases by military service. |
| After this week, the older European generation is wondering about the marriage, too. “America has always been about freedom and a guarantor for freedom,” said Mr. Brok, bitterly. “Perhaps we were too naïve.” | After this week, the older European generation is wondering about the marriage, too. “America has always been about freedom and a guarantor for freedom,” said Mr. Brok, bitterly. “Perhaps we were too naïve.” |
| He sets off on Sunday on his latest trip to Washington and glimpse of a security machine that he suggested is so drowning in data that it misses valuable clues, like the Russian warning about the Tsarnaev brothers before the Boston Marathon bombings. | |
| “In China, I expect such behavior,” he noted. But, from America, “this is real disappointment.” | “In China, I expect such behavior,” he noted. But, from America, “this is real disappointment.” |
James Kanter reported from Brussels, and Alan Cowell from London. |