Spying

Hollande calls emergency meeting after WikiLeaks US spy revelations

France — Link

Move comes as documents show that US agents spied on Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, listening to their phone calls.

France says confidence restored with Germany after spy claims

France — Link

French officials said claims that Germany's BND agency had helped US spy on France were not new and that trust had since been 're-established'.

Germany 'spied on France for American NSA'

France — Link

No official reaction from Paris over claims Angela Merkel's office knew German officials were carrying out economic espionage for the US.

Health firm 'offered 4 million euro deal' for French union's silence over workplace spies

France — Investigation

The Franco-Canadian group Orpea, which runs private retirement homes and health clinics, has been using “observers” to spy on its workforce and in particular trade union activities, according to documents seen by Mediapart. When the French trade union in question, the CGT, decided to make a formal legal complaint, the group offered it a deal worth four million euros in return for withdrawing the complaint and keeping quiet about the snooping – a deal the union ultimately refused. Mediapart can also reveal that the three “spies” used by the healthcare firm came from a company which is linked to allegations that furniture retailer Ikea spied on its staff and customers in France. Mathilde Goanec and Mathilde Mathieu report.

French TV ‘proves’ Coco Chanel spied for the Nazis

France — Link

Historian Franck Ferrand says previously unseen documents show the fashion designer worked directly for German military intelligence.

The dark story of how a French firm helped the Assad regime's mass-surveillance programme

International — Investigation

French IT firm Qosmos, specialised in mass-surveillance technology and which works on projects for France's intelligence services, is the subject of a judicial investigation launched in April into ‘complicity in acts of torture’. The probe centres on the Paris-based company’s involvement in a contract, led by an Italian company, to supply the Bashar al-Assad regime in war-torn Syria with a system to intercept, open and archive almost all email and other internet traffic flowing through the country.  Qosmos says it eventually withdrew from the project for ethical reasons, when the key technology it provided for the project was not yet operational. But, as detailed in this joint report by Mediapart and Reflets.info, the history of the case raises more questions than it provides answers.

Orange 'shares data with French intelligence agency'

France — Link

Newspaper report suggests the former state-owned French telecoms giant has been sharing information with security services for many years.

IKEA France directors questioned by police over client and staff 'snooping'

France — Link

Directors of the furniture store chain were questioned about allegations the company illegally used police files to spy on staff and customers.

'France spied on me', claims Madeleine Albright

International — Link

Former US Secretary of State says she discovered the eavesdroppingon after French diplomat referred to confidential conversation.

France, Germany warn anti-terrorism cooperation hit by NSA scandal

International — Link

François Hollande and Angela Merkel lead a push at the EU summit in Brussels to reshape transatlantic spying and agree a new code of conduct.

Former French intelligence chief says France also spies on US

International — Link

Bernard Squarcini, once boss of France’s counter-espionage and counter-terrorism agency, said allied countries 'spy on each other all the time'.

US-France row deepens with 'NSA spied on French diplomats' report

International — Link

The US National Security Agency spied on French diplomats in Washington and at the UN, according to latest claims by French daily Le Monde.

French foreign ministry tapped by NSA, says German magazine

International — Link

Spiegel says America's NSA tapped into computers used by French diplomats to communicate with each other and the foreign ministry in Paris.

US spy programme under investigation in France

International — Link

After complaints by human rights groups, prosecutors launched probe into alleged fraudulent access to personal data and personal correspondence.

US 'spying' on EU – the differing views from Paris and Brussels

International

The revelation that the United States has been spying on European Union offices in America – and possibly in Brussels too – has sparked outrage across the continent. French president François Hollande has called for an 'immediate' end to such snooping and he and others have suggested the scandal could affect the imminent negotiations over transatlantic trade. There have also been calls from the Right and Left in France for Paris to offer the whistleblower Edward Snowden political asylum. However, as Ludovic Lamant and Stéphane Alliès report, the reaction from EU leaders in Brussels to the affair has so far been much more restrained.