BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Senior members of a European Union committee said Tuesday they want U.S. intelligence chiefs to testify on whether an alleged American-led eavesdropping network monitors the businesses of its European allies.

European Parliament Vice President Gerhard Schmid, a German who is a senior member on the committee investigating the alleged Echelon spy network, said he would like to see the U.S. National Security Agency head, Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, come before the committee.

Schmid said he wants the American intelligence chiefs to discuss how the NSA gathers intelligence.

``If it's up to me, we will have American representatives, perhaps even U.S. senators and the director of the NSA,'' Schmid told reporters.

In testimony before the U.S. House Intelligence Committee in April, Hayden and CIA Director George Tenet denied reports the United States was involved in spying on Europeans and Americans as part of a satellite surveillance network.

Committee chairman Carlos Coelho of Portugal said that a list of industry experts, politicians, U.S. and EU officials would be called before the committee.

The Echelon issue surfaced in February when a European Parliament report outlined what it said were Echelon's practices.

It said Echelon intercepts ``billions of messages per hour,'' including telephone calls, fax transmissions and private e-mails.

The EU Parliament set up the special probe in July. National inquiries were also launched in France and Denmark.

The spy network is said to include Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand and is alleged to be led by the the National Security Agency.

Hearings into Echelon got under way Monday and continued Tuesday.

European Enterprise Commissioner Erkki Liikanen said he could not deny the existence of Echelon, but said the European Union would shortly implement new encryption and data protection rules to improve privacy rights to help deter eavesdropping.