Spying will not affect ties, Obama reassures Germans

In this June, 2013 photo, President Barack Obama, left, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrive for a news conference at the chancellery in Berlin.

U.S. President Barack Obama reassured Germans on Saturday that he valued his relationship with Chancellor Angela Merkel and would not undermine it with secret surveillance of her phone calls.

“I don’t need and I don’t want to harm that relationship and trust we have,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with ZDF television in the wake of his speech addressing surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA).

“As long as I’m President of the United States, the Chancellor of Germany will not have to worry about this.” Mr. Obama made it clear in the interview that U.S. intelligence services would still gather information, not only to keep the U.S. safe, but also allies like Germany.

“I think it’s fair to say that there are a whole series of European countries who are very glad that the U.S. has those ... intelligence capabilities,” Mr. Obama said. “And so in some ways we underwrite a lot of the security needs and defences of countries around the world.” The President also said that “there is no point in having an intelligence service if you are restricted to things that you can read in New York Times or Der Spiegel.” Their purpose is to find out “What are folks thinking? What are they doing? That helps our diplomatic and our policy aims”.

The President said he understood Germans’ concern. “I am very sympathetic to why the German people would be concerned about this. Obviously there is a history there with respect to East Germany that tells us what happens if you have a vast surveillance state and it turns on its own citizens.”

Mr. Obama also spoke to the disappointment many Germans have expressed in his presidency to date. He said he had clear goals about ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rebuilding the economy after the financial meltdown as well as tackling climate change.

But, the President said, he steers a “massive ship,” not a “speed boat” that can alter course quickly.

“And, unfortunately, although I would love to be in that position, the President of the United States is not emperor of the world. I am one figure, one man in this broader process and what I try to do, then, is to, every single day, move us a little bit closer to that vision I set.”

 

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