Following the latest revelations of inadmissible practices of espionage by the United States' National Security Agency on several heads of state and government in the world, GUE/NGL President Gabi Zimmer calls on the Commission and European leaders take "immediate and strong measures. We were surprised that there was no clear signal sent by the Council on this spying issue and we consider that a German-French initiative is not enough.

"We are demanding the immediate suspension of negotiations on the EU-US free trade agreement. We also demand immediate measures on the protection of personal data as well as a directive on the transfer of information between states.

"Under the pretext of protecting itself against terrorism, the USA has set up a widespread spying network in Europe and throughout the world. We condemn in the strongest possible terms these methods, which are not the remit of a democratic state, nor a state of law, nor of relations between states.

"We demand that before the end of this legislature, the Parliament adopts legislative measures on the protection of the data of all citizens, whether they are ordinary people or heads of governments."