Sánchez’s Spain chooses Huawei for fiber rollout, despite EU censure

Brussels –The EU shuts out Huawei, but the company makes a comeback thanks to Spain and its government, led by socialist Pedro Sánchez, which chose the Chinese over Telefónica for fiber-optic telecommunications services. A choice that sparked debate at home and ultimately led to condemnation by the European Commission. “The contract concluded by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior with Huawei can potentially create a dependency on a high-risk supplier in a critical and sensitive sector that would increase the risk of foreign interference,” said Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, responsible for Technological Sovereignty and Security.

He does not venture, Virkkunen, into scenarios. In his reply to a parliamentary question submitted by members of the Spanish opposition, he does not, in essence, indicate how Brussels intends to proceed. Still, he points out that the choice made in Madrid is contrary to the recommendations of the EU executive, which explicitly urged member states to avoid using services from Huawei and ZTE. Sanchez’s Spain is moving in the opposite direction, and this is undoubtedly a problem that the Commission now needs to consider.

The request to restrict Chinese companies’ room for manoeuvre is in a communication, a non-legislative text. The EU can only initiate infringement proceedings in the event of non-compliance with directives or regulations; therefore, this is not the case. However, Spain indeed risks becoming the Chinese Trojan horse in terms of control of European networks. That is why Madrid will now come under special surveillance.

“The Commission will look more broadly at the security and resilience of information and communication technology (ICT) supply chains and infrastructure in the upcoming revision of the Cybersecurity Act,” Virkkunen anticipates. The aim is to “avoid critical dependencies and de-risk our ICT supply chains from high-risk suppliers,” which Spain is allegedly not doing.

English version by the Translation Service of Withub