EU's Barroso Warns Spying Can Lead to 'Totalitarianism'

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said Thursday that Europeans viewed privacy as "a fundamental right" and warned against the risk of "totalitarianism" after fresh reports of covert U.S. surveillance.

Commenting on the anger boiling up in Europe over reports of U.S. snooping on EU leaders and citizens, Barroso said "we in Europe consider the right to privacy as a fundamental right".

He added, in reference to life in Communist-era East Germany, that not so long ago "there was a part of Germany where political police were spying on people's lives daily".

"We know very recently what totalitarianism means," he said. "We know what happens when a state uses powers that intrude on peoples lives."

Barroso spoke ahead of a two-day European Union summit due to have focused on economic issues but which has been hijacked by a dispute with Washington over covert surveillance.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, angry at allegations the U.S. snooped on her, will discuss the issue with French President Francois Hollande at the summit, a French diplomatic source said.

The German government summoned the U.S. ambassador to Berlin over reports Washington had monitored Merkel's mobile phone which have triggered outrage in Germany.