Quadriga - German spy scandal - Merkel under pressure?

The accusation: The NSA had the support of the German BND in spying operations that targeted the EU, the French government and European aviation giant Airbus.

The BND says it informed the German government of the US spying activities as early as 2008. What did the German government know?

Tell us what you think: quadriga(at)dw.de

Our guests:

Alan Posener - was born in London and grew up in Kuala Lumpur and Berlin. He is an Author and commentator for the German newspaper “Die Welt”. Posener says:"The Germans need to grow up. Of course western agencies work together, and of course they spy on each other. The Chancellory pretended that German spies don't do that sort of thing. That was not only a lie, which is part for the course, but also a stupid lie, which is inexcusable."

Erik Kirschbaum - born in New York, reporter for various dailies and magazines in the US, now he works for the “Reuters” news agency in Berlin. "Kirschbaum is often surprised by the seeming schizophrenia in Germany – on the one hand the country wants to be safe from terror attacks and live in peace yet on the other hand they’re not happy when intelligence agencies do their job."

Ursula Weidenfeld - award-winning economics journalist was editor-in-chief of the business magazine Impulse, and commentator for the Handelsblatt and Tagesspiegel daily newspapers. She's familiar with the ups and downs of the world of business executives and says, "It's practically unbearable for a company to live with the knowledge that its own intelligence service is helping others to spy on it."