Europa prepares his final blow against Huawei y ZTE. The European Commission studies ways to force countries like Spain to eliminate the presence of both Chinese giants in their networks of telecommunicationsaccording to internal sources leaked to Bloomberg.
The vice president of the Commission, Henna Virkkunenplans to convert the recommendation launched by Brussels already in 2020 in a legal requirement that forces Member States of the European Union to follow their guidelines to stop using service providers. mobile networks considered “high risk”, as is the case of Huawei and ZTE.
Decisions about infrastructure, also digital, correspond to national governments. Spain has decided to maintain the technology of Huawei, an alliance that began in 2011. Up to 16 EU members, more than half of the community club, also use the services of the Chinese technology multinational and only 11 countries have banned it. Even so, Virkkunen is considering the option of legally vetoing both technologies from the talk about 5G in order to force countries to follow the law or face possible economic sanctionsapunta Bloomberg.
China espionage?
The UEas well as USAconsider that ceding control of critical national infrastructure to companies with such close ties to Beijing could compromise national security interests. From Brussels, there are fears that the regime Xi Jinping can force these technology providers to hand over user data, thus turning them into tools of surveillance at the service of the Chinese Communist Party.
The Commission could even take measures to discourage non-EU countries from using Chinese technology, for example by blocking financing for telecommunications projects through the Global Gateway program in cases where these subsidies are used to hire suppliers such as Huawei or ZTE, Bloomberg sources indicate.
What about Spain?
The Commission’s plans match the repeated warnings from Brussels. From Spain, the Government of Pedro Sanchez has defended tooth and nail cybersecurity of Huawei systems used for 5G networks and the storage of police wiretaps, a new and controversial €12.3 million contract that was closed last summer. However, as EL PAÍS reported, the Executive admitted in September that it had canceled a contract in the process of being awarded to Telefónica for the installation of Huawei equipment in the network fiber optic public RedIRIS.
Despite the controversy and suspicions of espionage, Catalonia It is also reaching out to Huawei. In October, the Generalitat awarded the Sirt-Connecta business union a license of 127 million to connect Catalan public services to a fiber optic network with equipment from the Chinese manufacturer, an infrastructure that should be ready in 2031. The Executive of Salvador Illa has defended that the award “meets all the guarantees” and has guaranteed that the hardware It also complies with the National Cybersecurity Scheme.
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