A SENIOR member of the European Parliament is expected to repeat allegations that the Americans are using a base in the region to spy on European companies when he visits next week.
The primary role of the high-tech facilities at Menwith Hill, in North Yorkshire, is to monitor communications between states or organisation which may be a threat to the West.
Peace campaigners claim the base could also play a part in the so-called Star Wars missile defence screen.
However, when the European Parliament's vice-president, Gerhardt Schmid, visits Harrogate, he is expected to repeat fears that American National Security Agency staff also use the top secret Echelon system to glean sensitive commercial information on the United States' industrial rivals.
Investigative journalist Duncan Campbell made similar allegations when he addressed the Menwith Hill Forum, in Harrogate, last year.
Mr Schmid takes to the rostrum at the Friends Meeting Hall, on the town's Queen Parade, at 7.30pm on Thursday
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