Europe

Home page

Europe

Greece spied on U.S. ambassadors, says former FM Minister: media

30 October 2013 03:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Greece has spied on at least two U.S. ambassadors former Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Theodoros Pangalos said on Tuesday, amid scenarios that the American embassy in Athens houses a surveillance center, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"We didn't learn anything new...Everybody can monitor anybody...Greece's intelligence service (EYP) had managed to tap the phones of the U.S. ambassadors in Athens and Ankara during my term in office (late '90s)," Pangalos told a Greek radio program.

The veteran politician was asked to comment on reports in Greek daily "Ta Nea" (The News) and German magazine Der Spiegel on Tuesday that the U.S. embassy in Athens is one of the U.S. National Security Agency's (NSA) phone tapping centers.

Amid a furor caused recently by allegations that NSA has been spying on several leaders, officials and citizens worldwide, Der Spiegel cites NSA documents revealed by American intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden to back the claim.

The Greek government has not made any comment yet on the espionage claims.

The moderate Left "Democratic Left" party which was participating in the ruling conservative-led ruling coalition until last June, called for a demarche to be made to the U.S.

Pangalos, who has served as Foreign Minister in the period 1996-1999 under a socialist government, downplayed the reactions of European governments.

In regards to the information he was receiving from EYP he said that it was not anything big, but it was fun listening to the American diplomats calling him bad names.