Policy Observatory

The constitutional council approved the surveillance bill, a law that gives new spying powers to intelligence agencies. The Socialist government justified the bill, which allows intelligence agencies to tap phones and emails, and hack computers without permission from a judge, in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris in January. The bill was passed in June by an overwhelming number of French MPs, despite opposition from green and far-left parliamentarians and human rights activists.

In a report published on Friday, the 18-strong United Nations committee for human rights warned that the surveillance powers granted to French intelligence agencies were “excessively broad”.