The European Commission sends people to the US with temporary phones. They are afraid of spying
Trust with Washington has fallen.
Brussels, BRATISLAVA. The European Commission gives its employees who go on business trips to the US, one -time mobile phones And laptops only with the most basic equipment.
It is about securing people against the possibilities of interception or spying in the United States, he wrote Financial Times.
According to the British daily, the new approach applies to people to travel to the next week’s meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Relations between Europe and the United States are currently not ideal for Business Warthat unleashed the administration President Donald Trumpas well as for Trump’s attitude toward Ukraine.
In the United States, Monday should also be a European Commissioner for Trade Maroš Šefčovič.
The Financial Times refers to four anonymous sources from the European Commission’s environment, noting that such measures have been used, for example, when traveling to China.
« They fear that the US will get into the systems of (European) commission, » the British daily of one of the stakeholders quotes.
The portal also wrote about the new security measure EURACTIVaccording to which the European Commission confirmed that it has issued new security instructions but did not specify the details.
In the article you can read:
- How and why are the US officials in the US,
- What do we know about the technologies mentioned,
- As in the past, confidence in Europe and the United States has suffered.
As in Ukraine or in China
The Financial Times writes that the measures he ordered to its people in the European Commission are at a similar level to traveling to Ukraine, which is in a war state or China, which is anything for Europe but not an ally.
« The transatlantic alliance is over, » the FT quotes an unnamed representative of the EU institutions. The daily newspaper among the causes of alliance decline applies not only to the trade war, but also by the fact that Donald Trump openly does not like the European Union and thinks that it has been established to damage the United States in trade.
The opposition to the European Union has already come to the official foreign policy of the United States, which are willing to negotiate with representatives of national states, but are at least reserved against EU officials.
At the end of FebruaryAnd the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the last minute canceled the planned meeting between the head of the local diplomacy Marc Rubio and Kaja Kallas, the highest EU diplomat.
Trump is at the same time very benevolent to Russiain attempts to claim peace in the Russian-Ukrainian war, Washington is pushing only on Ukraine, which he currently refuses not only to provide, but also to sell weapons for money.
Washington is no longer a friend
Representatives of the European Commission, according to FT, were given a recommendation that, in addition to using disposable phones and special computers, they turn off their regular phones at the entrance to the US and place them in « special cases » to protect them from spying.
The diary did not specify what the special cases mean, but it is probably commonly available Faraday’s cases, which shade the phone from the electromagnetic signal. Their name is derived from the physical phenomenon called Faraday’s cage.
« Washington is not Beijing or Moscow, but it is an opponent that tends to go beyond the edge of the law in enforcing their own interests, » quotes the newspaper of Brussels expert Luuk Van Middelaar.
Confidence between Europe and the United States already twelve years ago disrupted the interception scandalwhen Whistleblower Edward Snowden, now a naturalized Russian citizen, published information on international interception operations.
The information was overwhelmed that Washington was listened to the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Then US President Barack Obama the damaged relationships were still trying to remedy.
French diplomat: Trump likes Putin and hates European Union Read
They also doubt Hungary
The delegation to the United States is not the only one that has been secured against spying. Similarly, they are According to Politico magazine It was provided by a five -member delegation of the European Parliament, which visited Hungary and also packed her mobile phones in Faraday’s bags.
According to Politic, MEPs visited the country to examine the state of democracy, the government of the law and compliance with fundamental human rights.
The Hungarian government has already faced criticism for the use of Israeli spy software Pegasus, which Budapest also used against opposition officials or journalists.
In addition, Politico also reminds of the suspicion that Budapest has already spoken the representatives of the European institutions to such an extent that she searched the hotel rooms and intercepted phones.
Special devices and rooms, not signal. How to communicate properly diplomats Read
