BERLIN (AFP) ― U.S.-EU free talks remain the “highest priority,” Angela Merkel’s spokesman said Thursday after a phone conversation between the German chancellor and U.S. President Barack Obama, despite tensions over claims of U.S. spying and data surveillance.

“The chancellor and U.S. president confirmed their strong interest in the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership,” Steffen Seibert said in a statement.

“The negotiations on the TTIP still have highest priority, they are to begin on July 8,” he added after the phone conversation late Wednesday.

Anger over revelations of U.S. bugging of European diplomatic missions had cast doubt over the start of the EU-U.S. talks on what would be the biggest free trade agreement ever negotiated.

France had called for a temporary suspension of the talks over the claims of vast U.S. surveillance made by fugitive U.S. intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.

But EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said Wednesday in Berlin that the talks would open and run in tandem with working groups tasked with probing the extent of U.S. spying.

Merkel also welcomed an announcement by Obama that the U.S. would provide information to its allies on its surveillance activities.

“The upcoming Washington visit by a delegation of representatives from German ministries and services will provide the opportunity for an intensive exchange on these issues as well as for discussion on further deepened cooperation,” Seibert said.

U.S. and German security officials will meet in the coming days to address intelligence matters, with a U.S.-EU dialogue on intelligence collection and data protection to begin as early as July 8.

Seibert said the talks would mostly focus on supervision of intelligence services, the recovery of intelligence, data and privacy protection.