Making good use of Snowden’s revelations
EU should sweep all its properties for bugs and use evidence of US's misdeeds to wring trade concessions.
The writer is an experienced international lawyer who has worked on human rights and humanitarian law projects in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa
The Edward Snowden saga shows no sign of petering out. Reportedly holed up in the “transit area” of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport, the whistleblower/hacker is being buffeted by forces beyond his control. The ever-mercurial Vladimir Putin apparently spurned Snowden’s asylum plea, unless Mr Snowden agreed to “stop damaging (Russia’s) American partners” — a particularly surprising development given the recent public frostiness between Mr Putin and US President Barack Obama at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland.
WikiLeaks has recently stepped in to stage-manage Mr Snowden’s information-sharing and public relations, dramatically “withdrawing” his asylum application to Russia, while simultaneously applying to 20 other countries, most of whom are in a diplomatic holding pattern to see how this all shakes out.
However, the piecemeal release of Mr Snowden’s information cache continues to cause reverberations in the international community. The member states of the European Union (EU) are incensed at revelations that the United States spied on EU embassies and missions in New York and Washington. EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding indignantly noted that “partners do not spy on each other”.
The US government has been inelegant in its attempt to downplay the crisis. US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that such collection of information was “not unusual”, and former head of the National Security Agency Michael V Hayden stated that the idea that countries do not spy on each other was “naive”. Neither man will be winning any popularity contests in Europe any time soon.
However, they have a point. Of course countries spy on each other, even countries that are very close allies. The member states of the EU all maintain intelligence agencies and such agencies exist to collect useful information about their enemies (and, dare I say it, their “friends”).
It all comes down to leverage. The EU has every right to be angry at the revelation that the US has been spying on it. But rather than blustering impotently, the EU should realise it has a golden opportunity to finally gain some leverage over the US.
One area where the Snowden revelations could have immediate influence is on trade talks. The EU and the US have been in discussions about a transatlantic free trade agreement (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP) and talks are to begin imminently. If completed, the TTIP would be the most comprehensive free trade agreement ever implemented and have widespread economic impacts on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Some European leaders are already grumbling that talks are in “jeopardy” due to the spying allegations. However, a far more effective response would be for the EU to sweep all its various properties for bugs and update its computer security protocols and then to use evidence of the US’s misdeeds to wring trade concessions behind closed doors.
Moreover, there is long-standing precedent for such a move. The EU is well-practised in using leverage, most noticeably against prospective member states, all of whom have to agree to abide by EU regulations, principles and values before they can gain the benefits of joining the Union. Croatia became the EU’s newest member on July 1, 2013 — an achievement won by some of its neighbours almost a decade ago. One of the conspicuous impediments in Croatia’s accession talks was the prevalence of alleged Croatian war criminals (dating from the Balkan wars of the 1990s) roaming free. Things moved much quicker once three prominent generals were transferred to the Hague in 2008 to face justice at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Thus, the EU is no stranger to playing hardball when it suits its interests. It is most definitely in the Union’s interests to play hardball with the US in negotiating the TTIP. Providence only knows what Mr Snowden will share next — but the EU should not let pride and a little spying between friends overshadow the gift horse it has been given as trade talks get underway.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2013.
WikiLeaks has recently stepped in to stage-manage Mr Snowden’s information-sharing and public relations, dramatically “withdrawing” his asylum application to Russia, while simultaneously applying to 20 other countries, most of whom are in a diplomatic holding pattern to see how this all shakes out.
However, the piecemeal release of Mr Snowden’s information cache continues to cause reverberations in the international community. The member states of the European Union (EU) are incensed at revelations that the United States spied on EU embassies and missions in New York and Washington. EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding indignantly noted that “partners do not spy on each other”.
The US government has been inelegant in its attempt to downplay the crisis. US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that such collection of information was “not unusual”, and former head of the National Security Agency Michael V Hayden stated that the idea that countries do not spy on each other was “naive”. Neither man will be winning any popularity contests in Europe any time soon.
However, they have a point. Of course countries spy on each other, even countries that are very close allies. The member states of the EU all maintain intelligence agencies and such agencies exist to collect useful information about their enemies (and, dare I say it, their “friends”).
It all comes down to leverage. The EU has every right to be angry at the revelation that the US has been spying on it. But rather than blustering impotently, the EU should realise it has a golden opportunity to finally gain some leverage over the US.
One area where the Snowden revelations could have immediate influence is on trade talks. The EU and the US have been in discussions about a transatlantic free trade agreement (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP) and talks are to begin imminently. If completed, the TTIP would be the most comprehensive free trade agreement ever implemented and have widespread economic impacts on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Some European leaders are already grumbling that talks are in “jeopardy” due to the spying allegations. However, a far more effective response would be for the EU to sweep all its various properties for bugs and update its computer security protocols and then to use evidence of the US’s misdeeds to wring trade concessions behind closed doors.
Moreover, there is long-standing precedent for such a move. The EU is well-practised in using leverage, most noticeably against prospective member states, all of whom have to agree to abide by EU regulations, principles and values before they can gain the benefits of joining the Union. Croatia became the EU’s newest member on July 1, 2013 — an achievement won by some of its neighbours almost a decade ago. One of the conspicuous impediments in Croatia’s accession talks was the prevalence of alleged Croatian war criminals (dating from the Balkan wars of the 1990s) roaming free. Things moved much quicker once three prominent generals were transferred to the Hague in 2008 to face justice at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Thus, the EU is no stranger to playing hardball when it suits its interests. It is most definitely in the Union’s interests to play hardball with the US in negotiating the TTIP. Providence only knows what Mr Snowden will share next — but the EU should not let pride and a little spying between friends overshadow the gift horse it has been given as trade talks get underway.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2013.