Angela Merkel's US phone frustration may complicate US-German ties Merkel calls Obama about hacking suspicions White House Spokesman Jay Carney says the US 'is not monitoring and will not monitor' the communications of the German chancellor. PT1M34S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2w353 620 349 October 24, 2013 - 12:59PM Allegations that American intelligence tapped German chancellor Angela Merkel mobile phone have fuelled international frustration with the Obama administration and complicated key trade negotiations between America and the European Union, experts say. The allegations, based on earlier reports by the Der Spiegel news magazine, prompted Ms Merkel to make an angry call to the President on Wednesday morning to demand an explanation. According to the Chancellor's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, Ms Merkel told the President "she unmistakably disapproves of and views as completely unacceptable such practices, if the indications are authenticated, this would be a serious breach of confidence. Such practices have to be halted immediately. US President Barack Obama has been quizzed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel about whether her phone was tapped by US intelligence. Later the White House issued a statement that said only that, "the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of Chancellor Merkel." They made no mention of past practices, and continued, "The United States greatly values our close cooperation with Germany on a broad range of shared security challenges. As the President has said, the United States is reviewing the way that we gather intelligence to ensure that we properly balance the security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share. According to Dr Dan Hamilton, the director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations in Washington, DC, such an invasion of privacy would be viewed particularly seriously in Germany because of its history of 20th century repression under the Third Reich and later the authoritarian East German regime. Further he believes Ms Merkel would feel particularly betrayed by the spying on her personal phone because as recently as July she held discussions with the President over revelations by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden about America's spying on EU nations and citizens. He said the new allegations would make delicate negotiations over the so-called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - a free trade agreement between the EU and America - more difficult. The TTIP has been championed by Ms Merkel, who has had to secure the support of sometimes sceptical European allies. Dr Hamilton said it was now unlikely that the EU would ratify the TTIP agreement until America can prove that it has taken action to rein in its intelligence agencies. Already the EU parliament has voted to suspend an agreement with America to share banking data to help fight terrorism as a result of allegations about America's spying. This week it was also alleged that the NSA swept up 70 million phone records in France in a 30-day period. So far US officials have only challenged the numbers quoted rather than the substance of the allegation. Dr Hamilton said if the allegations about the tapping of Ms Merkel's phone proved to be true they were further evidence that since September 11, 2001, America has failed to strike an appropriate balance between privacy and liberty on the one hand and the need for security on the other. And he believes that America would have created serious diplomatic difficulties for itself for limited intelligence benefit. "I don't think there is much of value you are going to find on Angela Merkel's phone, but the damage to American interests has been significant," he said. But he also said Germany was naïve to believe that only America was engaged in espionage, saying that other allies, such as France, are likely have intelligence ongoing operations throughout the region. Dr Jackson Janes, the president of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, said the allegations have added to international frustration at a President who does not appear to have a firm grip on his intelligence machinery. He said the allegations would prove to be a political annoyance for Ms Merkel as she forms a new government after her re-election, but that while publicly chastising the President she would continue to work with him and hope that the incident does not remain on the front burner. But he said the political and diplomatic damage to America could be longer-term. He said the damage to America's reputation could make it harder for it to convince Germany and other allies to support US positions on Syria, Iran or other issues. Already the leaders of Mexico and Brazil have protested to the President over similar allegations. Dr Janes said the clumsiness of the situation bought to mind the French diplomat Talleyrand who served under both Napoleon and King Louis Philippe and was once heard to say, "This is worse than a crime, it is a mistake."