2000 Revelations over British involvement in the US worldwide Echelon electronic industrial spying system could sour cross-channel relations inside the EU just as the worst of the ideological wars between London and Paris appeared to be over. In one day, Echelon can pick up as much information as that stashed in all of Washington's political and cultural archives. Computers automatically pick out key words in private conversations to identify sensitive economic material. The central European eavesdropping facility is linked to GCHQ in Cheltenham which is said to concentrate more and more on economic espionage.
Echelon can only revive suspicion that loyalties inside British delegations are divided.