Outgoing Deutsche Telekom chief blasts EU and German leaders over surveillance inaction

René Obermann, the chief executive of German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom, has attacked the European Commission and the German government for “pussy-footing” around the US on the subject of mass surveillance.

Obermann, who will leave Deutsche Telekom for the relatively small Dutch cable provider Ziggo at the end of December 2013, said that indiscriminate spying had “shaken confidence in two pillars of our society, free communications and privacy,” and was dangerous for democracy. The Deutsche Telekom chief also said EU member states’ data protection policies should be harmonized to strict German standards. “When companies from the US or any other country want to do business here, then they have to adhere to our standards,” Obermann argued. “That is also how one combats economic espionage. I don’t understand the pussy-footing.”