by Our Foreign Desk

FRENCH President Francois Hollande summoned the US ambassador yesterday after WikiLeaks revealed that Washington had spied on him and his predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac.

Mr Hollande damned the actions of the US National Security Agency (NSA) as an “unacceptable” security breach and called emergency meetings with top security officials and then with leading MPs.

Ambassador Jane Hartley was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to explain her government’s conduct, while France’s top intelligence co-ordinator will soon be dispatched to Washington to ensure that promises made after earlier NSA spying revelations in 2013 and 2014 have been kept.

Mr Hollande was also due to speak to his US counterpart Barack Obama as the Star went to press.

Leaked papers dating from 2006 to 2012 were released late on Tuesday, prior to a parliamentary vote yesterday on a Bill allowing expanded surveillance powers.

They apparently document private discussions between senior French government figures about the Greek economy, relations with Germany and, ironically, Washington’s habit of spying on its allies.

The top floor of the US embassy, visible from France’s presidential palace, was reportedly filled with ­spying equipment hidden behind trompe l’oeil paintings of windows, according to the Liberation newspaper, which published the documents with WikiLeaks and the website Mediapart.

While the revelations did not come as a surprise, they are still embarrassing for the French government.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that the US had to do everything it could, and quickly, to “repair the damage” to US-French relations.

He called the revelations a “very serious violation of the spirit of trust.”

“If the fact of the revelations today does not constitute a real surprise for anyone, that in no way lessens the emotion and the anger,” he said.

“They are legitimate. France will not tolerate any action threatening its security and fundamental interests
Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll told reporters that “France does not listen in on its allies,” adding: “We reminded all ministers to be vigilant in their conversations.”

A US National Security Council statement on Tuesday claimed that the US was “not targeting … the communications of President Hollande,” but failed to address claims that it had spied on Mr Hollande in the past or Mr Sarkozy and Mr Chirac.