In a policy speech, European Commissioner Thierry Breton called on all Member States to restrict or exclude completely Huawei and ZTE from their 5G networks. Currently, only 10 EU member states have such policies in place.
“We will continue to work with determination with the Member States that are lagging behind and the telecommunications operators. I can only emphasise the importance of speeding up decisions to replace high-risk suppliers from their 5G networks. I have also reminded the telecoms operators concerned that it is time to get to grips with this issue.
“For our part, the Commission will implement the 5G toolbox principles to its own procurement of telecoms services, to avoid exposure to Huawei and ZTE. We will also take into account the toolbox and the assessment in the report when allocating EU funding throughout our programmes.”
“We have been able to reduce or eliminate our dependencies in other sectors such as energy in record time, when many thought it was impossible. The situation with 5G 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. I therefore call on all EU Member States and telecom operators to take the necessary measures without further delay.”
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_23_3314
