Brussels The Spy Capital In Europe?

Politico: Brussels, city of spies

Growing role of EU has made Belgian capital prime target for spooks.

Forget Vienna and Berlin. There’s another big nest of spies in Europe: Brussels.

Suspicions among EU officials that the U.K. spied on them to obtain sensitive Brexit plans made headlines in Britain last week. But for many in the Brussels bubble, spying on both friends and foes is simply business as usual.

For some foreign intelligence agencies, Brussels is a target because it hosts both the European Union and NATO. For others, like some African and Middle Eastern security services, the focus is on large diasporas residing in Belgium that influence politics back home.

In June, the head of Austria’s domestic intelligence agency, Peter Gridling, told reporters that “Brussels has now overtaken Vienna” when it comes to the density of “so-called intelligence services from outside the EU.”

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WNU Editor: NATO is there. The EU is based there. Centrally located in Western Europe. Good food and wine. People from all over the world are living there .... and enjoying being there. So why not the spies.