Echelon network

8.7.1998

WRITTEN QUESTION E‑2329/98
by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE)
to the Commission

A European Parliament report (published by the STOA) indicates that an industrial espionage data network known as 'ECHELON' has been developed with the participation of countries which are among the principal trade rivals of the EU (USA, Canada etc.), together with the United Kingdom. According to the report, the network does not limit itself to monitoring company activities but is also 'devoting its attention' to governments and organizations of every kind.

 

This is a particularly serious matter giving rise to legitimate queries concerning the possibility of prying into the lives of EU citizens, thereby invading their privacy.

 

What view does the Commission take of the use of the above network for espionage purposes with its enormous implications, distorting free competition and endangering individual privacy and constituting an act of wilful provocation by the United Kingdom since its participation in a network which spies on other European Union Member States undermines any notion of solidarity?

OJ C 50, 22/02/1999