Merkel, Obama agree over role of surveillance in countering terrorism

Pressed personally by chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany about US surveillance of phone and e-mail traffic of foreigners, president Obama said yesterday terrorist threats in her country were among those foiled by such intelligence operations worldwide - a contention that Merkel seemed to confirm.

Their remarks, came first in private during the state visit of the president in Berlin, and then publicly in a joint news conference, pointed to the fallout of the  surveillance controversy over leaked documents from a former National Security Agency contractor, Edward J Snowden, following Obama overseas during the conclusion of his three-day diplomatic trip to Europe.

The disclosure led to much concern in Germany, with its Nazi-era history and the postwar surveillance in Communist East Germany that denied privacy and civil liberties to millions of German citizens.

Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, reflected that sensitivity in raising the issue with Obama, but she also expressed support for such operations, if balanced by ''due diligence'' to guard citizens' privacy rights, saying Germany had received ''very important information'' from its cooperation with the Americans against international terrorism.

Obama said that European leaders facing youth unemployment problems needed to adapt their policy response even as chancellor Angela Merkel defended her focus on budget cuts and enhancing competitiveness.

Even as both leaders reaffirmed their commitment towards promoting employment and growth outlined at this week's Group of Eight summit, Obama said policy makers needed to change course in the face of record unemployment.

''If, for example, we start seeing youth unemployment go too high, then at some point we have to modulate our approach to ensure that we don't just lose a generation that may never recover in terms of their careers,''

Obama told reporters at a press conference yesterday in Berlin with Merkel.

In what Obama described a ''four-year conversation'' on resolution of the European debt crisis, the US administration had at times had differences over the German-led agenda of austerity to resolve the euro crisis.

''We want to work with you to make sure that every person can enjoy the dignity that comes from work, whether they live in Chicago or Cleveland or Belfast or Berlin, in Athens or Madrid, everybody deserves opportunity,'' Obama said in a speech after the press briefing at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. ''We have to have economies that are working for all people, not just those at the very top.''