Support Our Work Mailing list About / Contact

EU delegations' offices bugged in Brussels HQ (1)

01 March 2003

Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

The BBC and other news agencies report that a routine security inspection on 28 February in the Justus Lipsius building, which is the headquarters of the Council of the European Union (the 15 EU governments), found bugging devices in the phones of offices used by national delegations. This included offices used by France, Germany, the UK, Spanish, Italian and Austrian officials said.

"The discovery of the telephone tapping systems was first reported on Wednesday by France's Le Figaro newspaper, which blamed the US", said the BBC website.

Investigators from the affected countries were looking into the phone tapping, along with the EU's own security services.

Each EU government has what is known as permanent representation in Brussels, headed by the permanent representative (sometimes known as "ambassadors") who sit on COREPER (Committee of permanent representatives), housed in their own, separate, buildings. Prior to Council or working party meetings staff from the permanent representation together with national Ministers and officials meet in suites of offices allocated to each delegation - here there will be briefings and any private national discussions. The bugging of these offices is a very serious security breach.

As it appears physical bugging devices were discovered this means all conversations in the rooms affected could be monitored (as well as any phone conversation).

After EU ambassadors were briefed on the espionage affair, Swedish envoy Sven-Olaf Petersson told reporters: "They were very sophisticated installations, we are told, which only a few intelligence services are able to install."

He said the devices had been found on 28 February, attached to certain phone lines in the central switchboard. "There are many indications that they were installed with the building (in) 1994-95. It is naturally very serious that someone has installed illegal listening devices in our building," Petersson said (Reuters).

Story from BBC NEWS: EU investigates mystery buggings

Our work is only possible with your support.
Become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

 Previous article

Globalism's imperial war, by A. Sivanandan (1)

Next article 

U.S. sends stern warning to Belgium on war crimes case

 

Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.

Report error

Statewatch does not have a corporate view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. Registered UK charity number: 1154784. Registered UK company number: 08480724. Registered company name: The Libertarian Research & Education Trust. Registered office: MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals "fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.

About | Contact | Privacy Policy