Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service has been spying for US intelligence agencies for years. Merkel's Office should have been informed in 2008 about this practice, but the federal government has not undertaken any corresponding measures, a German magazine wrote.

It became known on Thursday the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) overheard communications of European companies and politicians for the NSA, according to Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten.

However, Merkel’s Office seems to have done nothing to stop these activities, though it was informed about US espionage attempts in 2008.

According to the available information, the NSA was trying to get information about the multinational arms companies EADS and Eurocopter. This was contrary to German interests, and the BND had rejected the requests at that time.

However, now it has become clear that the BND assisted the US National Security Agency (NSA) in spying on European targets over the last few years.

The revelation was perceived by many German politicians as "scandalous". They demanded an end to such ‘collaboration’ with the US and argued that the chancellor's office should probably have been aware of the spy agencies' cooperation.