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French president calls defense council meeting on U.S. spying

Xinhua, June 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday called a top defense meeting here to discuss a WikiLeaks exposure of U.S. phone hacking against French leaders.

According to the news channel BFMTV, Hollande called members of his defense committee, including Prime Minister Manuel Valls, ministers in charge of foreign, defense and interior affairs and chiefs of intelligence services, to meet at the Elysee Palace "to evaluate the nature" of the revealed documents.

"It is unacceptable between allies," French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said shortly before the emergency meeting.

"It is difficult to accept that between allies there can be such doings, especially tapping the President of the Republic. When we fight against terrorism, it's hard to imagine or understand what motivated an ally to tap its allies that have often the same positions and common strategic choices," he said.

On Wednesday afternoon, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will summon the U.S. ambassador, BFMTV reported.

In a press release published on Tuesday, WikiLeaks said the U.S. National Security Agency has spied on French leaders, including President Francois Hollande, ex-Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac and cabinet ministers for a long time.

WikiLeaks said the documents are intelligence summaries of conversations between French government officials concerning some of the most pressing issues facing France and the international community, including a dispute between the French and U.S. governments over U.S. spying on France.

"The French people have a right to know that their elected government is subject to hostile surveillance from a supposed ally," WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said. "French readers can expect more timely and important revelations in the near future."

France is a close ally of the United States, and plays a key role in a number of U.S.-associated international institutions, including the Group of 7 and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Endi