Macron condemned the actions by Danish authorities following a meeting with Merkel, with the German chancellor agreeing that answers from Washington and Copenhagen were required.

"This is not acceptable between allies, and even less between allies and European partners," Macron said.

The French president stressed the importance of good relations between Europe and the US, but underlined that there was "no room for suspicion."

He added that he was waiting for "complete clarity" from Danish and US allies. Merkel followed up that she "could only agree" with Macron's sentiments.

The chancellor did, however, take a slightly softer tone — saying that she was "reassured" by the remarks from Denmark's current Defense Minister Trine Bramsen.

"In this regard I see a good basis not only for the resolution of the matter, but also to really come to trusted relations," she said.

Bramsen, who did not hold the post during the period in question, has not confirmed the reports and only gave a blanket condemnation of any eavesdropping on close allies as "unacceptable."

Bramsen was made aware of the actions of the Danish intelligence service in late 2020, according to Danish public broadcaster DR. Not long after, top intelligence officials were removed from their positions, although no explanation was given at the time.

"This is not acceptable between allies, even less so between European allies and partners," Macron said at a Franco-German Council of Ministers. Merkel said she agreed with her French counterpart's remarks.

Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) says that between 2012 and 2014 the Danish Defence Intelligence Service aided the US National Security Agency (NSA) to steal data via underwater internet cables.

Merkel was among the officials being eavesdropped on, according to the report.

US whistleblower Edward Snowden first alleged that Washington had tapped Merkel's phone in 2013, a claim that was not outrightly denied by the White House.

The new investigation conducted by DR with several European news outlets claims that the NSA accessed text messages and the phone conversations of a number of other leading politicians.

DR says nine sources with access to classified information have confirmed the report.

Defence Minister Trine Bramsen, who has been on the job since 2019 told DR that "systematic eavesdropping of close allies is unacceptable."

Danish lawmaker Karsten Hoenge of the left-leaning Socialist People’s Party, which is supporting Denmark's Social Democratic government, said on Monday he would quiz the country's defence and justice ministers in parliament about the case.

“The government must explain how come Denmark has been acting as a willing tool for a US intelligence service, and what it will mean for cooperation with Denmark’s neighbouring countries,” he said.

France said earlier on Monday the allegations were "extremely serious" if proven.

"It is extremely serious, we need to see if our partners in the EU, the Danes, have committed errors or faults in their cooperation with American services," France's Europe Minister Clement Beaune told France Info radio.

He said the facts must first "be verified" and then "conclusions drawn in terms of cooperation."

Sweden has also commented on the report with Defense Minister Peter Hulqvistsaying on Sunday: "We would like to get full information and see all the cards on the table in this matter."

The report comes at a critical time for transatlantic cooperation, just two weeks before US President Joe Biden is due to visit Europe for the first time since he took office on the occasion of a G7 summit.

The findings are the result of an internal investigation conducted by the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE) in 2014 and 2015, DR said in a report on Sunday, citing nine unnamed sources who had access to the classified information.

According to the investigation, the US National Security Agency (NSA) used a collaboration with FE to eavesdrop on Danish information cables to spy on senior officials in Sweden, Norway, France and Germany from 2012 to 2014.

In addition to Merkel, the NSA also spied on then-German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former German opposition leader Peer Steinbruck, DR said.

The investigation found the NSA had access to extensive data streams that run through internet cables to and from Denmark and intercepted everything from text messages and telephone calls to internet traffic including searches, chats and messaging services.

Denmark, a close US ally, hosts several key landing stations for subsea internet cables to and from Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

One DR source described FE’s access to the cables as having “strategic significance” for relations between the US and Denmark.

The FE launched the internal investigation – code-named “Operation Dunhammer” – following concerns about Edward Snowden’s leaks in 2013 revealing how the NSA works.

But upon receiving the Dunhammer findings, FE’s top management at the time did not scrap the collaboration with the NSA, according to DR.

Danish Minister of Defence Trine Bramsen, who took over the defence portfolio in June 2019, was informed of the spying in August last year. That same month, she suspended the head of the Defence Intelligence Service and three other officials.

DR said Bramsen declined to comment on its report but told the broadcaster that the “systematic eavesdropping of close allies is unacceptable”.

PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that all must be clarified concerning reports that the United States intelligence agency had used the Danish infrastructure to spy on senior European officials, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

This "is unacceptable between allies, even less between allies and European partners", Macron was quoted by French daily Le Monde following a French-German council of ministers. He urged "all the clarity".

Denmark's national broadcaster DR News reported on Sunday that Danish Defense Intelligence Service (FE) has given the US National Security Agency (NSA) open internet access to spy on senior politicians of neighboring countries, including Merkel.

DR News, in collaboration with Swedish, Norwegian, German and French media, found out some "startling conclusions" in a secret internal investigation on the FE dubbed as "Operation Dunhammer," which was concluded in May 2015.

A significant conclusion in the Dunhammer report, according to DR News, is that the NSA has purposefully obtained data and thus been able to clandestinely spy on targeted heads of state, as well as neighboring Scandinavian leaders, top politicians, and high-ranking officials in Germany, Sweden, Norway, and France.

Earlier in the day, France's Secretary of State for European Affairs Clement Beaune told Franceinfo radio that what has been found by the media investigation "is extremely serious".

"We must verify these facts and denounce them if it is true," he said.

The findings are the result of an internal investigation conducted by the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE) in 2014 and 2015, DR said in a report on Sunday, citing nine unnamed sources who had access to the classified information.

According to the investigation, the US National Security Agency (NSA) used a collaboration with FE to eavesdrop on Danish information cables to spy on senior officials in Sweden, Norway, France and Germany from 2012 to 2014.

In addition to Merkel, the NSA also spied on then-German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former German opposition leader Peer Steinbruck, DR said.

The investigation found the NSA had access to extensive data streams that run through internet cables to and from Denmark and intercepted everything from text messages and telephone calls to internet traffic including searches, chats and messaging services.

Denmark, a close US ally, hosts several key landing stations for subsea internet cables to and from Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

One DR source described FE’s access to the cables as having “strategic significance” for relations between the US and Denmark.

The FE launched the internal investigation – code-named “Operation Dunhammer” – following concerns about Edward Snowden’s leaks in 2013 revealing how the NSA works.

But upon receiving the Dunhammer findings, FE’s top management at the time did not scrap the collaboration with the NSA, according to DR.

Danish Minister of Defence Trine Bramsen, who took over the defence portfolio in June 2019, was informed of the spying in August last year. That same month, she suspended the head of the Defence Intelligence Service and three other officials.

DR said Bramsen declined to comment on its report but told the broadcaster that the “systematic eavesdropping of close allies is unacceptable”.

The Defence Intelligence Service (FE) collaborated with the US National Security Agency (NSA) to gather information, according to Danish public service broadcaster DR.

Intelligence was allegedly collected on other officials from Germany, France, Sweden and Norway.

Similar allegations emerged in 2013.

Then, secrets leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden alleged tapping of the German chancellor's phone by the NSA.

When those allegations were made, the White House gave no outright denial but said Mrs Merkel's phone was not being bugged at the time and would not be in future.

Germany is a close ally of the US.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and a spokesperson for Angela Merkel have said they were not aware of Danish involvement until the DR report, which was shared with other European media over the weekend.

The NSA is said to have accessed text messages and the phone conversations of a number of prominent individuals by tapping into Danish internet cables in co-operation with the FE.

The alleged set-up, said in the report to have been codenamed "Operation Dunhammer", allowed the NSA to obtain data using the telephone numbers of politicians as search parameters, according to DR.

DR interviewed nine sources, all of whom are said to have had access to classified information held by the FE.

Along with Mrs Merkel, then-German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the opposition leader at the time, Peer Steinbrück, are also said to have been targeted.

"Politically I view this as a scandal," Mr Steinbrück told German media.

Denmark's Defence Minister Trine Bramsen, who had reportedly been earlier informed of the espionage, told DR that "systematic wiretapping of close allies is unacceptable".

Other European politicians have condemned the reports.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg told public broadcaster NRK: "It's unacceptable if countries which have close allied co-operation feel the need to spy on one another."

France's Europe Minister Clement Beaune told France Info radio the allegations were "extremely serious".

Neither the FE nor the NSA have yet commented on the latest reports.

Following the new report, Mr Snowden accused US President Joe Biden of being "deeply involved in this scandal the first time around". Mr Biden was US vice-president at the time the reported surveillance took place.

"There should be an explicit requirement for full public disclosure not only from Denmark, but their senior partner as well," he tweeted.

Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio said the US National Security Agency (NSA), whose alleged tapping of Merkel’s phone was disclosed by Edward Snowden in 2013, also used the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE) to spy on officials in Sweden, Norway and France.

The allegations are contained in an internal classified report on the FE’s role in the surveillance partnership agreement with the NSA from 2012 to 2014, the broadcaster said, citing nine unidentified sources familiar with the investigation.

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It said the NSA used Danish information cables to spy on senior officials including the former German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the then opposition leader Peer Steinbrück. It was not clear whether the Danish government authorised the taps.

The Danish defence minister, Trine Bramsen, who took over the defence portfolio in June 2019, was reportedly informed of the espionage in August last year. She told Danmarks Radio that “systematic eavesdropping of close allies” was “clearly unacceptable”.

France’s Europe minister, Clément Beaune, said the reports were “extremely serious” if proven. “We need to see if our partners in the EU, the Danes, have committed errors in their cooperation with American services,” Beaune told French radio. “Between allies, there must be trust, a minimal cooperation.”

Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said on Monday that the German government had “taken note of the reporting. It is in contact with all relevant national and international authorities for clarification.”

Steinbrück said the NSA and FE’s activities were “a political scandal”. The former centre-left SPD party leader said he accepted western states needed intelligence services, but added it was “grotesque that friendly intelligence services are indeed intercepting and spying on top representatives of other countries”.

Danmarks Radio published the allegations on Sunday evening in a joint investigation with the Swedish public broadcaster SVT, Norway’s NRK, France’s Le Monde, and Germany’s NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The Danish broadcaster said the NSA retrieved text messages, calls and internet traffic including searches and chats thanks to its partnership with FE. Denmark, a close US ally, hosts several key landing stations for undersea internet cables to and from Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain.

Neither the agency or its director at the time, Lars Findsen, have commented on the report. Findsen and three other FE officials were suspended last year by an independent oversight board following criticism and accusations of serious wrongdoings stemming from the internal investigation, which began in 2015, Danmarks Radio said.

The NSA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Sweden’s defence minister, Peter Hultqvist, demanded “full information” and his counterpart in Norway, Frank Bakke-Jensen, said the allegations “are being taken seriously”.

If confirmed, the spying was happening during and after the 2013 Snowden affair, when the former NSA contractor revealed thousands of secret documents exposing the vast US surveillance operation mounted after the 2001 9/11 attacks.

Snowden on Sunday accused Joe Biden, who was US vice-president at the time, of being “deeply involved … the first time around”. Snowden called on Twitter for “full public disclosure not only from Denmark, but their senior partner as well”.

The former contractor has been charged in the US with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence and is in Russia.

The findings are the result of an internal investigation in the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS) from 2015 into the NSA's role in the partnership, DR said, citing nine unnamed sources with access to the investigation.

According to the investigation that covered 2012 and 2014, the NSA used Danish information cables to spy on senior officials in Sweden, Norway, France and Germany, including former German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and former German opposition leader Peer Steinbrück.

Asked for comment on the DR report, a spokesperson for the German Chancellery said it only became aware of the allegations when asked about them by journalists, and declined to comment further, as Reuters reported.

Denmark, a close ally of the U.S., hosts several key landing stations for subsea internet cables to and from Sweden, Norway, Germany, Holland and the United Kingdom. The internal investigation within the DDIS was launched in 2014 following concerns about Edward Snowden's leaks the previous year revealing how the NSA works, according to DR.

In Washington, the NSA did not immediately reply to a request for comment and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) declined to comment. A spokesperson for the DDIS declined to comment.

"It is grotesque that friendly intelligence services are indeed intercepting and spying on top representatives of other countries," Steinbrueck told German broadcaster ARD. "Politically, I consider it a scandal."

Sweden's Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told Swedish SVT broadcaster that he "demanded full information on these things." Norway's Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen told broadcaster NRK that they "take the allegations seriously."

"It's unacceptable if countries which have close allied cooperation feel the need to spy on one another," Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg told public broadcaster NRK. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP) she said Norway had asked Denmark "for all the information they have".

France said Monday that media reports are "extremely serious."

"It is extremely serious, we need to see if our partners in the European Union, the Danes, have committed errors or faults in their cooperation with American services," Europe Minister Clement Beaune told France Info radio. Beaune added it would also be very serious if it turned out Washington had been spying on EU leaders.

"Between allies, there must be trust, a minimal cooperation, so these potential facts are serious," said the minister, adding the facts must first "be verified" and then "conclusions drawn in terms of cooperation."

"This is not something that should be played down," Beaune said, while acknowledging that similar allegations had emerged back in 2013 of U.S. spying on Merkel. "We are not in some kind of cuddly world so this kind of behaviour can unfortunately happen," he said.

Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said he had been "in contact with Denmark's defense minister to ask if Danish platforms have been used to spy on Swedish politicians."

A German government spokesman said Monday that Berlin was "in contact with all relevant national and international interlocutors to get clarification".

DR said the NSA had taken advantage of a surveillance collaboration with Denmark's military intelligence unit FE to eavesdrop.

But it was unclear whether Denmark knew at the time that the US was using the cables to spy on Denmark's neighbors. Contacted by AFP, Denmark's military intelligence unit refused to comment on the revelations.

A decision in August last year to suspend the head of the Danish Defense Intelligence Service and three other officials from their posts following criticism and accusations of serious wrongdoing from an independent board overseeing the unit, centered around the 2015 investigation, according to DR.

The Danish government said last year it would initiate an investigation into the case based on information from a whistleblower report. That investigation is expected to be concluded later this year.