The European Union (EU) is "committed to the transatlantic partnership" but wants to set up working groups to investigate the U.S. spying scandal, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso Wednesday commented on the EU-US free trade talks.

"There can't be opening of trade negotiations without there being at the same time... an opening of discussions with the U.S. on the activity of the intelligence services in our countries and protection of private data," Barroso was quoted by AFP as saying.

"It is clear that for negotiations on the trade agreement with the US to succeed, there needs to be confidence, transparency and clarity among the negotiating partners,"Vice-President of the European Commission and EU Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding said in a speech on Wednesday. "This excludes spying on EU institutions."

The purpose of the transatlantic working group is to establish the facts and for the EU Commission to be able to assess the proportionality of the PRISM programmes with regard to the data protection of EU citizens.

Viviane said "the group will have its first meeting this month, and a second one in Washington in September." The Commission will report about the findings of the group in October.

PRISM and Tempora are a wake-up call for us to advance on our data protection reform for both the private and the public sector," said Viviane. "A strong framework for data protection is neither a constraint nor a luxury but a necessity."

Viviane also called for the data protection reform. "Various elements of the reform are of particular relevance."It will clarify the territorial application of the law, including to companies operating in the EU. It will have a broad definition of personal data. It will clarify regime for international transfers. It will impose obligations and responsibilities on processors as well as controllers of data."

Last Saturday, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported on its website that the U.S. National Security Agency had tapped EU offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks. 

The allegations cast shadow on the EU-U.S. trade talks scheduled to start in Washington on Monday.

French President Francois Hollande earlier this week called on Washington to offer Paris and its European allies guarantees on the spying issue before continuing free trade negotiations. The French government on Wednesday called to temporarily suspend the trade talks for two weeks.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the negotiations should go ahead and the working groups should begin their work at the same time.   

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