The German government is opposed to inviting whistleblower Edward Snowden to testify before a parliamentary committee investigating alleged data transgressions by the National Security Agency, a lawmaker for Chancellor Angela Merkel's party said Thursday, The Guardian reported.
In a letter to members of a parliamentary committee obtained by Süddeutsche Zeitung, government officials say a personal invitation for Snowden would "run counter to the political interests of the Federal Republic," and "put a grave and permanent strain" on U.S.-German relations, according to The Guardian.
Roderich Kiesewetter signalled in a statement that Berlin would reject calls from opposition lawmakers to invite Snowden to testify before the committee, according to The Guardian.
"The federal government has never been in any doubt that there is no legal basis for Mr.Snowden to travel to Germany," Kiesewetter, a member of the committee, said, The Guardian reported.
A spokesman for Merkel declined to comment, but several government officials said this week that a government report prepared for the committee and expected to be released to lawmakers on Friday would be in line with expectations that Berlin would oppose a Snowden testimony in Berlin, according to The Guardian.
Kiesewetter's statement came in response to a newspaper article which stated that the government had legal and diplomatic objections to inviting Mr. Snowden, The Guardian reported.
The report said that the government thought such an invitation could cause "grave and permanent" damage to Berlin's economic, diplomatic and security relationship with Washington, and would be contrary to Germany's self-interest, according to The Guardian.
Merkel traveled to Washington, D.C., on Thursday night for talks with President Barack Obama with the situation in Ukraine expected to dominate the agenda, The Guardian reported. Senior government officials said this week that the chancellor would also address the NSA affair.
Many Germans view Snowden as a hero rather than a criminal, pitting the coalition government against opposition parties as well as individual politicians across the divide, according to The Guardian.
