On United States Surveillance of European Unions

[Vladimir Putin]

"If he [Edward Snowden] wants to go somewhere and someone will take him, go ahead. If he wants to stay here, there is one condition – he must stop his work aimed at bringing harm to our American partners, as strange as that sounds coming from my lips...Russia never gives anyone up and doesn't plan to give anyone up. And no one has ever given us anyone."

[François Hollande]

"We cannot accept this kind of behaviour between partners and allies...We ask that this stop immediately...There can be no negotiations or transactions in all areas until we have obtained these guarantees, for France but also for all of the European Union..We know well that there are systems that have to be checked, especially to fight terrorism, but I don't think that it is in our embassies or in the European Union that this threat exists."

[Angela Merkel through spokesman Steffen Seibert]

"We are no longer in the cold war...If it is confirmed that diplomatic representations of the European Union and individual European countries have been spied upon, we will clearly say that bugging friends is unacceptable...Mutual trust is necessary in order to come to an agreement."

[Barack Obama]

"Not just ours, but every European intelligence service, every Asian intelligence service, wherever there's an intelligence service – here's one thing that they're going to be doing: they're going to be trying to understand the world better and what's going on in world capitals around the world."

[John Kerry]

"Every country in the world that is engaged in international affairs of national security undertakes lots of activities to protect its national security and all kinds of information contributes to that...All I know is that is not unusual for lots of nations."

[Nicole Bricq]

"This is a topic that could affect relations between Europe and the US...We must absolutely re-establish confidence … it will be difficult to conduct these extremely important negotiations."

[Frankfurter Allgemeine]

"Washington is shooting itself in the foot...Declaring the EU offices to be a legitimate attack target is more than the unfriendly act of a machine that knows no bounds and may be out of the control of politics and the courts."

[Martin Schultz]

"I feel treated as a European and a representative of a European institution like the representative of the enemy. Is this the basis for a constructive relationship on the basis of mutual trust? I think no...It is shocking that the United States take measures against their most important and nearest allies, comparable to measures taken in the past by the KGB, by the secret service of the Soviet Union."

[Jean Asselborn]

"The Americans justify everything with combating terrorism...The EU and its diplomats are not terrorists."

[Elmar Brok]

"How can you negotiate when you have got to fear that your own negotiating position has been intercepted in advance?"