'German intelligence service spies on neighbors'

vienna - The Austrian authorities have asked Germany for clarification of the systematic spying of government services and companies by the intelligence service BND for years. The magazine 'Profil' and the Viennese newspaper 'Der Standard' revealed these German bugging practices on Saturday.

'The scope of that control was enormous,' said Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. 'That friendly countries spy on each other is not only unusual and undesirable, but also unacceptable', added President Alexander Van der Bellen, during a joint press conference.

In the period 1999-2006, the BND intercepted the telecommunications of central institutions in Austria, including diplomatic representations and international organizations. It concerned data traffic via a total of around 2000 telephone connections and e-mail addresses. Vienna now wants to know the details and hear who exactly watched and when that stopped. If information is stored, it must be destroyed.

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