EU-Brazil cable deal in wake of US spying scandal
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Brazil and the European Union agreed yesterday to lay an undersea communications cable from Lisbon to Fortaleza to reduce Brazil’s reliance on the United States after Washington spied on Brasilia.
At a summit in Brussels, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said the US$185 million cable project was central to “guarantee the neutrality” of the Internet, signalling her desire to shield Brazil’s Internet traffic from US surveillance.
“We have to respect privacy, human rights and the sovereignty of nations. We don’t want businesses to be spied upon,” Rousseff told a joint news conference with the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council.
“The Internet is one of the best things man has ever invented. So we agreed for the need to guarantee ... the neutrality of the network, a democratic area where we can protect freedom of expression,” Rousseff said.
Rousseff postponed a state visit to Washington last year in protest at the US National Security Agency spying on her email and phone and is now seeking alternative routes to US cables.
Brazil relies on US undersea cables to carry almost all of its communications to Europe. The existing cable between Europe and Brazil is outdated and only used for voice transmission.
EU leaders are sympathetic to Brazil’s call following the revelations of fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that showed the agency also eavesdropped on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone and some EU institutions.
US President Barack Obama has since banned spying on the leaders of close allies, but trust has been damaged.
Brussels is threatening the suspension of EU-US agreements for data transfers unless Washington increases guarantees for the protection of EU citizens’ data.
Rousseff said Brazil and the European Union have “similar concerns” about US dominance of fiber-optic cables and hoped to have a cable running from the Portuguese capital Lisbon to the northeastern Brazilian of Fortaleza from next year.
Under current plans, a joint venture between Brazilian telecoms provider Telebras and Spain’s IslaLink Submarine Cables would lay the communications link.
Telebras would have a 35 percent stake, IslaLink would have a 45 percent interest and European and Brazilian pension funds could fund the remainder.
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