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To: lurqer who wrote (14981)	3/19/2003 12:17:01 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 89467

Listening Devices Are Found in EU Offices By CONSTANT BRAND BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Electronic bugging devices were found in offices used by several countries, including France and Germany, in a building where a European Union summit will open Thursday, EU officials said. The EU is investigating the bugging in a headquarters building but does not yet know who was behind it, EU spokesman Dominique-George Marro said Wednesday. He declined to name the other nations whose offices were bugged. The French newspaper Le Figaro broke the story Wednesday, saying Belgian police identified the bugs as American. The report did not say why officials believe the devices are American, and that report could not be confirmed immediately. ``At this point we cannot say who planted these bugs,'' said Cristina Gallach, a spokeswoman for Javier Solana, the EU's high representative for foreign and security policy. The American mission to the EU has ``received no communication about the investigation from the EU,'' a spokesman for the U.S. mission said on condition of anonymity. Marro said the EU ``found anomalies in the telephone lines'' during regular security checks. Only a small number of lines were affected, he said. The bugging equipment was found a few days ago but investigators wanted to keep the discovery quiet to give themselves a better chance to catch the culprits. ``There is an urgent interest in clearing this up,'' German Interior Ministry spokesman Rainer Lingenthal said. ``We still hope to find those responsible.'' Leaders of the 15 EU nations are scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday at the building for their annual spring summit, during which they also are expected to discuss the Iraqi crisis. The building houses the secretariat of the EU council of ministers. The EU's regular meetings of ministers are held there. The building also houses Solana's offices. No devices were found on the phones in Solana's office or at the EU's military wing, housed in the same building, Gallach said. Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said he was informed of the bugs Wednesday morning. ``The first thing I can do is to condemn this act,'' he said. ``Once we get the results, obviously you will be informed ... we will find out soon and take the appropriate measures.'' Two years ago, the European Parliament investigated reports that a U.S.-led global spy network dubbed ``Echelon'' allegedly snooped on Europe's business community. U.S. officials have not acknowledged that such a network exists and have said American agencies do not engage in industrial espionage. The European Parliament warned EU nations at the time to step up security measures to protect sensitive government and business communications. 03/19/03 10:32