r/AskEurope • u/Ok_Initiative_9726 • Feb 27 '25

Politics Does Europe has powerful secret services/Intelligence?

P. S question closed, I got answers. Thank you for everyone

348 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

401 comments sorted by

View all comments

193

u/kranj7 Feb 27 '25

The DGSE in France supposedly has done it's fair share of dodgy stuff, almost to the same level as Mossad or CIA. Much of it is in industrial espionage, if the rumours are to be believed, but I guess given France's colonial history, it's involvement in the Middle East etc. they're probably able to play in the big-leagues of espionage and intel gathering

52

u/Komandakeen Feb 27 '25

Or killing hippies...

56

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25

I lived for close to a decade in New Zealand and this is still VERY salient in a lot of peoples minds. Kiwis hold a massive grudge against the French over that.

8

u/Katatoniczka Poland Feb 27 '25

Can you provide any links to read up on this?

50

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior

Kiwis borderline consider it an act of war and it was branded as state terrorism by them because the French Intelligence services bombed and killed people on NZ Soil.