Brussels, Jun. 16, (dpa/GNA) – Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton has urged EU member countries to take steps to ensure that their 5G mobile networks are better protected against providers they may consider risky, such as the Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE.
The EU has succeeded in reducing dependencies in other sectors, such as energy, in record time, Breton said in Brussels on Thursday.
“With 5G it should be no different: We cannot afford to maintain critical dependencies that could become a ‘weapon’ against our interests. That would be too critical a vulnerability and too serious a risk to our common security,” he added.
According to Breton, the decision by some EU countries to limit the influence of Huawei and ZTE on their 5G networks, or even to exclude them altogether, is justified, as they represented a much higher risk than other providers.
In the future, the EU Commission no longer wants to use any services that use technology from ZTE and Huawei.
“I therefore call on all EU member states and telecom operators to take the necessary measures without further delay,” Breton said.
The US accuses Huawei of having close ties to the Chinese government and has imposed sanctions on the company. Huawei denies the allegations.
In 2020, the EU Commission recommended keeping providers like Huawei out of the core areas of the network.
In a statement Thursday on EU progress in this area of cybersecurity, the EU Commission underlined its “strong concerns about the risks posed by certain suppliers of mobile network communication equipment to the security of the Union.”
“The Commission considers that decisions adopted by Member States to restrict or exclude Huawei and ZTE from 5G networks are justified,” the statement added.
“Consistently with such decisions, and on the basis of a broad range of available information, the Commission considers that Huawei and ZTE represent in fact materially higher risks than other 5G suppliers.”
GNA