{Spain has followed Germany in summoning the US ambassador to Madrid to discuss allegations of spying on Spanish citizens. Like Berlin, Madrid says the claims could have a significant impact on trans-Atlantic trust.}
The Spanish government summoned US ambassador James Costos on Monday to discuss allegations that the National Security Agency (NSA) had tracked more than 60 million phone calls in Spain within the space of a single month.
Costos was asked to explain the US position by Spain’s Minister for European Affairs Inigo Mendez de Vigo. The minister questioned Costos for some 40 minutes, the Spanish government said, with Madrid issuing him with a message.
“Spain has conveyed to the United States the importance of preserving the climate of trust that governs bilateral relations and [the importance] of knowing the scale of some practices that, if true, are inappropriate and unacceptable between countries that are partners and friends,” said the Spanish Foreign Ministry in a press release.
The claims were published in the right-of-center Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo, which said the NSA had recorded the origin and destination of the calls and their duration but not the content.
DW
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