Zee Germans Are Pissed

While it's ridiculous to think that the NSA isn't listening in on our friends in Europe (and equally ridiculous to assume they're not doing the same) the recent NSA stories about checking up on our neighbors has provided the excuse for EU lawmakers to score some political points at the expense of the upcoming EU-US trade talks.

Senior European lawmakers say they are shocked at reports that U.S. intelligence agents bugged EU offices on both sides of the Atlantic.

The president of the European Parliament said he was "deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of U.S. authorities spying on EU offices" made in a report published Sunday by German news weekly Der Spiegel.

Martin Schulz said if the reports were confirmed "it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-U.S. relations."

Green Party leaders in the European Parliament, Rebecca Harms and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, called for an immediate investigation into reports published by Der Spiegel and suggested that further negotiations on a trans-Atlantic trade treaty be put on hold.

Given the domestic economic disaster brought on by continued EU austerity, having somebody else to slap around is a welcome relief for beleaguered European pols, and at the same time European opposition parties get to considerably raise the price tag of any trade deal with the US.  Politics is politics the world over at times.

We'll see what Germany wants in return for this, as they're still the big dog on the EU block, but I'm betting it's going to be substantial trade concessions from the US that are probably going to hurt jobs here.

Something to keep in mind when thinking about consequences.