The Obama administration’s response to the US spy scandal shows the White House regards Europeans as threats rather than partners, according to the EU’s top justice official, who warned this was further damaging transatlantic relations.

Viviane Reding, the EU justice commissioner, urged the US to grant Europeans the same privacy protections as Americans, noting that in the wake of the snooping revelations President Barack Obama insisted such protections only extended to US citizens. “I understand well that the goal of the president was to reassure public opinion in America,” she said in a speech in Washington yesterday.

“However, in Europe citizens also heard this message, and they understood. We are concerned. We are not seen as partners, but as a threat.” Ms Reding’s criticism, amid nearly daily reports of the US National Security Agency listening in on allied European governments and collecting data on their domestic phone traffic, is the latest sign of how damaging the revelations have become to Mr Obama’s stature abroad.