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Dilma Rousseff

BRUSSELS. — Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff yesterday welcomed a German government proposal to create a European communications network to rival that of the US National Security Agency. Speaking in Brussels, Rousseff said she shared concerns expressed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who recently called for the establishment of a European communications network to rival the US’s NSA.

“We have to respect privacy, human rights and the sovereignty of nations,” Rousseff said, adding that she was concerned that a planned EU-Brazil submarine fibre-optic cable could be vulnerable to spying.

“We have similar concerns (to the EU), we have a similar position,” Rousseff told a press conference after an EU-Brazil summit.
Last year it was revealed that US intelligence agents had bugged Merkel’s phone, while Rousseff’s personal communications were also reportedly monitored by the United States, prompting her to cancel a state visit to Washington.

Merkel’s proposal would protect European communications from US surveillance by ending the need for Internet data to pass through the United States.

Rousseff, who was leading a ministerial delegation at the summit, has been discussing the feasibility of a US$185 million underwater cable linking Europe to Brazil, to be built with the participation of Brazil’s state-owned telecommunications company. — AFP.