Brussels wants EU Member States to block Huawei from 5G networks

The European Commission wants to force EU Member States to remove 5G network equipment in critical networks that originate from so-called “high-risk vendors.”

Brussels has been asking governments for years to voluntarily restrict companies like Huawei and ZTE from installing network equipment in 5G infrastructure due to national security concerns.

For this purpose, in 2020, the European Commission launched its 5G Security Toolbox, outlining a set of measures for an EU-coordinated approach to secure 5G networks.

Out of fear of retaliation from Beijing, many EU Member States were hesitant to do so.

To encourage the Commission’s initiative, former European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton said that Huawei and ZTE represented “materially higher risks than other 5G suppliers.” Therefore, Member States were justified in blocking these companies from their telecom networks.

However, Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, still isn’t happy with the progress that has been made over the past few years.

“I’m not satisfied with how the member states have been implementing our 5G Toolbox. We know that we still have high-risk vendors in our 5G networks, in the critical parts, so now we will have stricter rules on this,” she told Politico.

For that reason, Virkkunen introduced a new Cybersecurity Act proposal that would restrict Huawei from installing 5G network equipment for critical and sensitive infrastructure in Europe under EU law. It’s expected to have a wider impact to better secure tech supply chains across telecoms, energy, security, and transport sectors.

“In today’s world, everything is digitized, and all our daily lives are dependent on safe and functional information networks. Cybersecurity has gained greater importance and become an integral part of our comprehensive security. We need to equip ourselves with robust and efficient cybersecurity tools that allow for a seamless cooperation across the EU. Because a cyber threat to one Member State is a threat to all,” Virkkunen said in a public statement.

Huawei, on the other hand, is not having it and urges the EU to avoid “going further down the wrong path of protectionism.”

“A legislative proposal to limit or exclude non-EU suppliers based on country of origin, rather than factual evidence and technical standards, violates the EU's basic legal principles of fairness, non-discrimination, and proportionality, as well as its WTO obligations. We will closely monitor the subsequent development of the legislative process and reserve all rights to safeguard our legitimate interests,” a Huawei spokesperson told Reuters.

The Cybersecurity Act proposal has yet to be debated with EU Member States and the European Parliament. This will likely take several months to become a law.