The stern words follow an announcement by the German government on Wednesday that it had seen evidence suggesting the chancellor's mobile was "monitored" by the NSA. Other countries rallied around the Germans and called for new laws to protect European citizens. Facts are facts. We cannot accept this systematic spying, whatever it may be. We need to take measures and I can't imagine measures at the national level. We need to take European measures," said Elio di Rupo, the Belgian prime minister. Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, said: "This is serious. I will support her (Merkel) completely in her complaint and say that this is not acceptable. I think we need all the facts on the table first. We have done research, also in Europe, into what data the NSA has or has not collected. Once we have these facts, we can take the next steps. Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister, said: "Our capacity to search for this kind of information is to hinder terrorism, criminal activities, the risk of war. That should be clear. We are doing this, but it's actually to preserve the freedom, our openness in our societies. It should not be used to listen to each other, when we look at elected leaders.