Germany eyes revived US ties after spy row
Germany's foreign minister yesterday said he would urge a revived US partnership based on "trust and mutual respect" in talks with his American counterpart after Berlin's expulsion of a CIA station chief in a spying row.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he would tackle the diplomatic fallout from the latest twist in a more than year-long rift with the US over surveillance when he meets US Secretary of State John Kerry for weekend talks on Iran.
Germany's shock move Thursday to kick out the US embassy intelligence chief followed the emergence within days of two alleged US spying cases, re-igniting German fury after last year's NSA scandal.
Analysts said the highly unusual move, which came after the US ambassador was twice called in for talks, marked a watershed in German-US ties, with an openly rattled Berlin now ready to publicly take a stand against its Nato ally.
German newspapers applauded the expulsion as a long overdue act of protest.
Steinmeier said Germany's partnership with the United States was vital and, with escalating violence in hotspots such as Ukraine and the Middle East, transatlantic cooperation was needed more than ever.
But he cautioned that it must be based "not just on trust" but also "on mutual respect".
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