Foreign minister still waiting for explanations from Washington

The Spanish government is apparently not satisfied by the explanations offered by NSA chief General Keith Alexander, who told a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that France and Spain were in fact behind the monitoring of millions of phone records, and not the United States, as has been claimed in a number of recent press reports.

Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, said on an official visit to Tallinn, Estonia on Wednesday that he has still not received the explanations the government requested from Washington in July and August of this year, and which were asked for once again on Monday, when the US ambassador to Spain, James Costos, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry.

After making clear that the Spanish government is working on the basis of facts and not speculation, Margallo added: “Only when we have some news, when we have received these explanations [from the US State Department], will we be able to take concrete measures, within the framework of our legislation.”

Margallo claimed that he does not have any information regarding the activities of the Spanish CNI intelligence service, either at home or abroad, despite the NSA’s claims that the mass monitoring of communications was carried out in conflict zones, far from Spanish or French territory. But he did underline that “Spanish law must be applied to all of those who are operating in Spain, whatever their nationality may be.”