Deutsche Welle, 24 February 2014
Brazil and
the EU plan to establish a communications network complete with undersea cable
to circumvent the US National Security Agency. It's the outcome of a visit to
Brussels by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
Brazil and
the EU welcomed on Monday a German proposal to create a European network to
avert US surveillance. At a summit in Brussels, Rousseff said the joint project
would "guarantee the neutrality" of the Internet.
Brazilian
telecoms provider Telebras and Spain's IslaLink plan major shares in the cable
project priced at $185 million (135 million euros). European and Brazilian
pension funds would put up the remainder.
The cable
would span the Atlantic Ocean, from the Portuguese capital Lisbon to Fortaleza
in northeastern Brazil.
Last year,
it emerged that the National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on Rousseff's
email and phone communications. US President Barack Obama apologized to Merkel
for surveillance of her mobile phone.
"We
have to respect privacy, human rights and the sovereignty of nations. We don't
want businesses to be spied upon," Rouseff told a news conference in the
presence of top EU officials.
"We
will continue to enhance data protection and global privacy standards,"
said President Herman Van Rompuy.
Brussels
has since scrutinized EU-Us agreements on data transfers, demanding increased
guarantees for the protection of data of citizens in the EU.
The EU is a
major trading partner with Brazil, receiving more than 20 percent of Brazil's
exports and accounting for a similar share of its imports.
Talks on a
long-envisaged free-trade deal were however delayed at the summit, officials
said.
ipj/dr (dpa, AFP, Reuters)
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