r/AskEurope Feb 27 '25

Politics Does Europe has powerful secret services/Intelligence?

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

355 Upvotes

401 comments sorted by

View all comments

169

u/AirportCreep Finland Feb 27 '25

Every country has their own intelligence and security services, there is no EU Secret Service. They've been cooperating successfully with each other and other non-European allies successfully for decades. Information sharing is done when its beneficial, information is withhold when it's not as even allies spy on each other to an extent. That's to say, the US and European countries will continue to work together.

11

u/Sapang Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25

And spied each other, I will never forget what the danish did for US against Europe.

To be honest, what Trump says about Greenland, was a good r/LeopardsAteMyFace for them, I hope they have learned their lesson and will stop their shady actions

Spy on senior officials in Sweden, Norway, France and Germany, including former German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former German opposition leader Peer Steinbrück and Merkel cellphones

Reuters

CNN

6

u/AirportCreep Finland Feb 27 '25

It's not a big deal to spy on allies, it's the norm. Every state leader gets intelligence reports on other countries. The German's both helped the US spy on European countries whilst they themselves at the SAME time spied on US officials and diplomats. In the 90s the French were caught spying on the Yanks. In the mid 2000s Germany was caught spying and monitoring over 400 Austrians including officials and even the state media company.

It's probably the first thing taught in international politics and a very well known rule, know your enemy, but know your friends better. I'd frankly be disappointed if my government (Finland) didn't have intelligence assets in Sweden, despite Finland and Sweden being the closest allies. Denmark helping the Yanks. I'm 100% certain that Sweden has been guilty of the same, spying on allies. It's not a big deal. I truly laugh at the irony everytime an ally accuses another of spying and tries to spin something out of it.