BERLIN -- German and U.S. politicians have agreed on efforts to rebuild trust to trans-Atlantic ties during the visit by a delegation of U.S. lawmakers led by senator Christ Murphy in Berlin on Monday.
German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Christoph Heusgen, an adviser of Chancellor Angela Merkel, met with Murphy on Monday.
"I go to Europe to make clear that we must continue to fight together against terrorism despite the anger over the NSA spying program," said Murphy.
During Murphy's Berlin visit, discussions with German central-left wing opposition SPD faction leader Thomas Oppermann and leader of Merkel's conservatives in the lower house of parliament Michael Grosse-Broemer were also planned.
"For us, the NSA affair has not ended yet," said Oppermann after the meeting with Murphy in Berlin. "We agreed to finally put an end to the totally escalated spying program of the NSA," Both governments are working on an agreement.
American allies in Europe have been in an uproar over media reports that U.S. intelligence agencies have monitored the communications of Merkel and tens of millions of phone calls in France and Spain.
Murphy will visit Berlin on Monday and Brussels on Tuesday in an attempt to fix the damage done by the surveillance scandal.
