Brussels - Itar-Tass
The president of the European Commission instructed the security services to conduct a full search through all official premises for electronic bugs, the electronic protection systems of the computer systems of the European Commission will be checked completely as well, spokeswoman of the European Commission Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen said in view of the U.S. bugging scandal on Monday. Juan Manuel Barroso has also authorized the foreign service of the EU under the leadership of Catherine Ashton to get a \"full explanation from the White House.\" On June 30, British newspaper The Guardian reported that 38 foreign embassies in the U.S. were subject to surveillance and listening. “If media information is confirmed, it would be an extremely disturbing signal,” admitted Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen. Ashton herself as well as the European heads of missions of the USA are “in constant contact with the State Department.” Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen refused to comment whether this information could spoil the negotiations on US-EU free trading zone. In his turn, the press secretary of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton - Michael Mann called the tapping of EU missions by the United States “a fact of history.” According to European media, this information relates to the period up to 2010. But at the moment the EU diplomatic mission in the U.S. and the EU representative at the United Nations \"has already moved into the new building. This happened in 2010 and 2013 respectively.\" \"These buildings have the most advanced protection from all forms of espionage,\" - he said.