The European Commission’s vice president Neelie Kroes said in statement that reports of the US government spying on servers held by US cloud providers are creating an “atmosphere of distrust” around cloud services.

“Why would you pay someone else to hold your commercial or other secrets, if you suspect or know they are being shared against your wishes?” Kroes said. “Front or back door – it doesn’t matter – any smart person doesn’t want the information shared at all.”

“If European cloud customers cannot trust the United States government or their assurances, then maybe they won’t trust US cloud providers either. That is my guess. And if I am right then there are multi-billion euro consequences for American companies.”