European Union justice ministers are to take up the sensitive issue of industrial espionage after claims that the UK and US have been spying on European companies. The European parliament is also considering holding an inquiry.
The allegations, denied by both countries, that they were using a surveillance system of satellites and listening posts to intercept business phone calls and data transmission, were made in a report to the European parliament by British investigative journalist, Mr Duncan Campbell.
Mr Fernando Gomes, Portugal's Interior Minister, told the European parliament yesterday the creation or existence of such a system was unacceptable.
Justice ministers will discuss the issue at the end of May.
The European Commission and the European parliament have called on companies that suspect they have been the victims of industrial espionage to come forward, but none has.
The Commission has received letters from the UK and US stating that they were not involved in industrial espionage. The US letter says the intelligence community does "not collect proprietary commercial, technical or financial information for the benefit of private firms".
Sir Stephen Wall, the UK's ambassador to the EU, said in a letter that the UK's intelligence gathering was subject to strict parliamentary scrutiny.
