France’s Hollande calls defence council after US spying claims

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PARIS:  French president, François Hollande called an emergency meeting of his country’s defence council for Wednesday morning after claims that American agents spied on three successive French presidents including him.

Earlier it was revealed in a Wikileaks document that the United States wiretapped three French presidents between 2006 and 2012.

The documents — classed as “Top Secret” and first reported in partnership with French newspaper Liberation and the Mediapart website — also revealed that Hollande approved secret meetings on the consequences of a Greek exit from the eurozone as early as 2012.

WikiLeaks documents suggest that other US spy targets included French cabinet ministers and the French ambassador to the United States.

“The documents contain the ‘selectors’ from the target list, detailing the cell phone numbers of numerous officials in the Elysée up to and including the direct cell phone of the president,” a report of the taps published in the French media revealed.