The European Commission wants more countries in the bloc to “urgently adopt” the recommendations to avoid the risks that Huawei and ZTE present in their telecommunications services.
The European Commission urged its members to adopt recommendations to ban Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from their 5G telecommunications networks, citing risks to the economic bloc’s collective security.
Calling for this “emergency adoption” was EU industry boss Thierry Breton, who wants all members to follow the lead of countries like the Netherlands and Sweden in blocking these companies.
The case
In total there are 27 countries that are members of the European Union. Only 10 maintain bans against both companies.
“To date, only 10 of them have used these prerogatives to restrict or exclude high-risk providers. This is too slow and poses a significant security risk and exposes the collective security of the union, as it creates a dependency for the EU and serious vulnerabilities,” Breton notes.
For the expert, “it is justified” then that several countries have decided to exclude ZTE and Huawei due to their risks to national security.
If members do not agree to the measures, then the European Union “will take steps to prevent exposure of your corporate communications to mobile networks using these providers.”
“We have been able to reduce or eliminate our dependence on other sectors such as energy in record time, when many thought it was impossible, and the situation with 5G should not be any different,” Breton said in statements to the press in Brussels, before warning that the EU “cannot afford to retain critical dependencies that can become weapons against our interests.”