France sees no reason to grant Snowden asylum: minister

France has no reason to support U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden's asylum claim which had already been rejected in 2013, Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday.

"For the moment, it is a request he made via the media, but, I do not see any reason to change the stance," le Drian said.

"He had asked for asylum in France, but also elsewhere, in 2013. At that time, France had considered that it was not the time. I don't see what has changed today," he added in an interview to CNews television.

On Saturday, the former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee told France Inter radio that he hoped French President Emmanuel Macron would grant him the right of asylum. He argued that "protecting whistleblowers is not a hostile act."

Snowden shocked the world in 2013 by revealing that the U.S. intelligence agencies utilized programs such as PRISM to conduct mass surveillance.

Snowden, wanted by the United States, is now taking refuge in Russia.

More than a dozen countries have turned down requests to take in Snowden. The United States accuses the whistleblower of endangering national security.

Snowden told the "CBS This Morning" program Monday that he would like to return to his home country, and that he wants fair trial.