I'm from Germany and I am of course not certain of German self-innocence. However, I would still be surprised if our intelligence agencies were involved in indu

I'm from Germany and I am of course not certain of German self-innocence. However, I would still be surprised if our intelligence agencies were involved in industrial espionage against companies in other EU countries. There are two reasons for this: If such a thing were to become public, the backlash would be enormous. The German political establishment, from the Bundestag down to village mayors, and also a large part (most likely the majority) of the population are quite invested in European unification. Having had bad experiences in the past, most people here would like to get on with their lives without having to worry about the dealings of nation-states. Such hostile acts against other EU countries would be presumed foolish and dangerous. The second and probably more important reason is that the German intelligence agencies are not completely under German control. This is something we carry around with us since the postwar occupation. Recently declassified secret contracts specify that the German intelligence agencies have to work in close collaboration (and sometimes on the orders of) the intelligence agencies of the Western Allies. I'd be surprised if the French would let our agencies engage in industrial espionage. EDIT: Btw, I am aware of the traffic scraping that the BND does, I just assume that industrial espionage, at this point in time , is not one of the many (probably mostly nefarious) things they do with that data.