Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to face further political embarrassment over Berlin’s spy scandal following new revelations that US intelligence planned to obtain unlimited access to Germany’s main internet cable networks in its attempt to achieve saturation surveillance.

The plan, revealed by intelligence sources to Die Welt newspaper on Friday, was put forward in 2008 by America’s National Security Agency and was an attempt to “widen” an already allegedly dubious co-operation agreement the agency held with Germany’s BND intelligence service. Sources said that although Ms Merkel’s office rejected a request to tap the country’s main internet cable junction in Frankfurt, her knowledge of the plan showed that she knew that German and US intelligence gathering co-operation had “clearly exceeded what German citizens and companies deemed acceptable”.

Ms Merkel is already under fire following disclosures last week that the BND actively co-operated with the NSA to spy on European politicians and companies from their joint “listening post” at the former US military intelligence gathering centre in Bad Aibling in Bavaria.

The disclosures have shocked and alarmed Germany where, for many, spying is synonymous with the activities of Hitler’s Gestapo or Communist East Germany’s all-pervasive Stasi secret police. Eighteen months ago at the height of the first of Germany’s recent US spying scandals, revelations that the NSA had tapped Ms Merkel’s mobile phone prompted the German Chancellor to declare publicly: “Spying among friends – this is just not on.” A deep rift in US-German relations ensued.

But in the wake of last week’s evidence, Ms Merkel’s earlier condemnation of NSA phone-tapping has left her looking at best politically naïve and at worst hypocritical. Ms Merkel’s deputy, the Social Democrat vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, has called for a “through investigation”. The former communist Left party has accused Ms Merkel’s office of allowing Germany to be turned into a “puppet” of US intelligence.

The women who are shaping our world Show all 27 1 /27 The women who are shaping our world The women who are shaping our world Janet Yellen (US) Women hold positions of power in the United States like in no other country, but in terms of raw power none challenge Janet Yellen, Chair of the Federal Reserve, whose decisions determine the cash in not only every Americans’ purse but ours too. AP The women who are shaping our world Oprah Winfrey (US) Oprah still directs the US national conversation through her TV appearances, stadium tours and, most recently, her backing of ‘Selma’, which finally gave Martin Luther King the deserved cinematic attention. Getty The women who are shaping our world Christine Lagarde (France) Managing Director of the IMF (the first woman to run the 188-country financial organization), Lagarde’s leadership has coincided with one of the worst modern economic crises. She is willing to say the unpalatable as she demands politicians reform their economies to “effectively address the predicament of the 200 million jobless worldwide.” AP The women who are shaping our world Nicola Sturgeon (UK) The Queen? No, the person whose political career has been built on a commitment to tear apart the union who (at this moment) holds the actual power. With the SNP likely to sweep Scotland in the forthcoming general election, it will be Sturgeon who will have the greatest say over Britain’s future. Tom Pilston/The Independent The women who are shaping our world Emma Watson (UK) It’s what she’s done since Hogwarts that has so impressed. The fashion world may have adopted her as a muse, but it is in the area of sexual politics that she has found her voice, becoming a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and helping launch the UN Women HeForShe campaign, calling for men to advocate the cause of gender equality. Getty Images The women who are shaping our world Angela Merkel (Germany) In Germany she is known as ‘Mutti’ (or ‘Mother’) but it is in her international dealings that the Chancellor’s power has been most marked - whether breaking the post-World war II taboo on military actions by sending arms to Kurdish fighters facing ISIS or working tirelessly to seek a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Ukraine. Getty Images The women who are shaping our world Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (Germany) One of only 12 female Nobel Prize winning scientists, pioneering geneticist Nüsslein-Volhard is a global expert in genetic mutations and the ethical implications of recent developments in genomics and biotechnology. She campaigns for rights of mothers worldwide. Getty The women who are shaping our world Lubna Olayan (Saudi Arabia) A corporate trailblazer, and is one of the most influential businesswomen in the Middle East, Olayan is CEO of her own financing company, which runs 40-plus companies across the region. She has also pushed progressive business practices where few others do, promoting women and celebrating their contribution to business culture. AFP/Getty The women who are shaping our world Wajeha al-Huwaider (Saudi Arabia) The co-founder of the Association for the Protection and Defense of Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia is one of the few voices for equality in a country where women are must have a male guardian to travel, open a bank account and seek employment. Her campaign to permit women to drive gained international acclaim. YouTube The women who are shaping our world Shahnaz Wazir Ali (Pakistan) Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan and chairperson of Higher Education Commission and a rare female voice in the country - since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto there has been a dearth of women at the highest levels of power in Pakistan. AFP The women who are shaping our world Malala Yousafzai (Pakistan) Shot by the Taliban in 2012 for blogging about life under their rule, Yousafzai has become an inspirational campaigner for education for women and girls. She is the youngest person to receive the Nobel Prize, giving her access to political leaders worldwide and helping turn her advocacy into a global movement. Getty Images The women who are shaping our world Margaret Chan (China) Chan has not had an easy time as DG of the World Health Organisation, her second term seeing one of the worst global disease outbreaks in recent times in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The WHO’s late response was criticised, leading to Chan to admit the agency “underestimated the magnitude, the complexity and the challenges”. AFP The women who are shaping our world Yao Chen (China) She is not just the doe-eyed ingénue starring in some of China's biggest romantic comedies over the past five years. Yao has also used her popularity – and the 71 million followers she has on the social media site Sina Weibo – to address troubling social and environmental issues in her country, as well as the plight of South-east Asian refugees. Getty The women who are shaping our world Indra Nooyi (India) Born to a Tamil-speaking family in Madras, Nooyi (CEO, PepsiCo) is now one of the world’s most powerful businesswomen, having taken Pepsi from its sugary drink origins to the second largest food and drink behemoth in the world. It is an achievement that rewards her with a reputed $17m per year. Getty The women who are shaping our world Julie Bishop (Australia) Since Julia Gillard left, there has been a lack of women in senior posts. Bishop is the exception, having been Foreign Affairs minister since 2013. Her handling of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 won plaudits, leading to her being touted as a contender for PM Tony Abbott’s job. AFP The women who are shaping our world Cathy Freeman (Australia) Since winning gold at the 2000 Olympic games, sprinter Freeman has campaigned for Aboriginal rights with her Cathy Freeman Foundation, working to improve the educational prospects of Australia’s indigenous children. Getty The women who are shaping our world Rapelang Rabana (South Africa) At 23, Rapelang Rabana founded Yeigo Communications, the hugely influential communications software development company based in Cape Town. Listed by Forbes as one of 30 under 30 Best Young African Entrepreneurs, she made Oprah's 2012 O Power List and this year was hailed by the World Economic Forum. The women who are shaping our world Thuli Madonsela (South Africa) Widely known as ‘Mrs Anticorruption’, public prosecutor Madonsela played an instrumental role in drafting the country’s new Constitution that saw Nelson Mandela becomethe first black president of South Africa and has been tireless in standing up for human rights and punishing corruption. AFP/Getty The women who are shaping our world Folorunsho Alakija (Nigeria) Alakija’s first company was a fashion label that catered to Nigeria's elite, including the wife of former military president Ibrahim Babangida. This connection paid off - he gave her a prospecting licence for lucrative oil fields and she has now replaced Isabel dos Santos as the richest woman of Africa (estimated worth $41.83bn). AP The women who are shaping our world Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria) The author of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction, has been hailed as “the most prominent” of a “procession of critically acclaimed young Anglophone authors [that] is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature”. Getty The women who are shaping our world Rihanna (Barbados) Little explanation is needed for this Barbadian phenomenon. Rihanna is one of the most famous women in the world - she uses social media such as Twitter and Instagram to communicate directly with her millions of fans. Not all of her actions are deemed to be feminist, though. Getty The women who are shaping our world Michelle Bachelet (Chile) President Bachelet (the first woman to head her country) is now serving a second term, having ended her first with an 84 per cent approval rating. In her earlier career, her commitment to standing up for the oppressed caused her to be jailed, tortured and exiled and, between her presidencies, she served as Executive Director of UN Women. AFP/Getty Images The women who are shaping our world Isabel Allende (Chile) Hailed as the world's most widely read Spanishlanguage author, Allende’s influence is greater even than that. A life that has seen her experience political intimidation, exile and the loss of a daughter has made her a powerful campaigner for the empowerment and protection of women. AFP/Getty The women who are shaping our world Dilma Rousseff (Brazil) Brazil’s first female president. Rouseff has been in power since 2010, leading a $2.2 trillion economy and 200 million people. With the World Cup and the Olympics, the eyes of the world are firmly on her country at a time when she is seeking to redistribute wealth during an economic recession. AFP/Getty Images The women who are shaping our world Gisele Bündchen (Brazil) The world’s highest-paid model for the past eight years, Bündchen made $47m in 2014. She is also Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Environment Programme, and on the board of the Rainforest Alliance, a charity working to conserve biodiversity and sustainability. Getty The women who are shaping our world Shakira (Colombia) Since launching her music career at age 13, the singer has sold almost 60 million albums and topped the charts in 55 countries. Her social media reach is also immense – she is Facebook’s "most liked" person, with 93 million followers. Getty The women who are shaping our world Sofia Vergara (Colombia) She may be best known for US TV’s ‘Modern Family’ but it is Vergara’s business achievements that make this 41-year-old actress so important to her country. Her savvy steering of her firm, Latin World Entertainment, has made it a regional $27m-a-year talent management, marketing and tech powerhouse. Getty

But apart from announcing her willingness to appear before a parliamentary committee of inquiry to testify, Ms Merkel has refused to say what she knew or did not know. “We are still discussing the matter with the United States,” she told reporters.

However, in what appeared to be a tacit admission that rules had been broken, the government agreed last Wednesday to restrict BND co-operation with the NSA. “Merkel wants to show that she is doing something, but the mistakes really lie in the past,” said Konstantin von Notz, a Green Party intelligence expert.

Further evidence of alleged illicit spying co-operation between the BND-NSA is due to be supplied by BND staff to a parliamentary committee of inquiry next week.