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German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has said that he has low expectations for a possible no-spy agreement between Germany and the United States during a planned U.S. visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in early May.
De Maiziere made the remarks during an interview with German daily Passauer Neue Presse that was published Monday.
However, he said Germany is expecting real changes from the United States regarding its intelligence activities.
"What we value is a good and effective data protection agreement between Europe and the United States. This goes far beyond the NSA issue," the minister was quoted as saying.
Speaking about the European Union's top court ruling on the data retention law, de Maiziere said now it is time to thoroughly evaluate the verdict, adding the German government would make further decisions after a relevant meeting of European interior and justice ministers in early June.
He said he believes Germany needs a data retention law as a tool for investigating serious crimes, according to reports.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) overturned the controversial EU data retention directive last week, which required phone companies and internet providers to store private citizens' data for scrutiny by investigators in case of serious crimes.
The court said the directive, passed in 2006, amounted to a grave intrusion into the private lives of EU citizens and must be reformed.
The ruling is likely to reheat debate within Germany's ruling coalition, as Germany is currently the only EU country that lacks a law governing the length of time data is allowed to be retained.
In 2010, Germany's constitutional court annulled the German law stemming from the EU directive.
There have been different opinions between Germany's ruling Social Democrats (SPD) and Christian Democrats (CDU) on whether or not to draft substitute data retention legislation.
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) said he no longer saw an immediate need for Germany to produce a draft law after the ECJ ruling, while de Maiziere (CDU) almost simultaneously clarified a need for further negotiations about new regulations.
