They are concerned about potential "serious incidents" in 5G equipment from manufacturers in china, according to a resolution passed by delegates in strabburg. The technology could harbor backdoors through which manufacturers and authorities could gain access to personal data.
Huawei in particular is currently facing accusations that it is too close to the chinese government and can be forced to cooperate by the country's authorities. Huawei rejects the accusations. Most recently, the U.S. Threatened the german government with a restriction on the exchange of intelligence information if germany involves chinese companies in the expansion of the fast 5G mobile network. However, security experts have so far been unable to detect any contested backdoors or espionage activities in huawei's products.
The federal government wants to coordinate with its partners on the expansion of the fast 5G mobile communications network. German chancellor angela merkel said in berlin on the fringes of a visit by belgian prime minister charles michel that security was a key issue for the german government in the roll-out of 5G. She will define her standards and then talk to the partners about them. "This is self-evident."
The background to merkel's statements is a report in the "wall street journal" according to which u.S. Ambassador richard grenell had indicated in a letter to economics minister peter altmaier (CDU) that the exchange of intelligence information and other data could no longer take place to the same extent as before if the chinese company huawei or other chinese providers were involved in the construction of the 5G network in germany.
Huawei is specifically mentioned in the EU parliament's legally non-binding text – pointing out that czech authorities had excluded the manufacturer from a tender because of possible security risks. Commission and member states should prevent possible risks by using different manufacturers and reducing europe's dependence on foreign cyber technology, urge meps.
They also voted by a large majority on tuesday to introduce a new pan-european security certificate for cyber products and services. Consumers should be better informed about the safety of products on the "internet of things," where more and more devices are connected to the internet and to each other. Negotiators from the parliament and the member states had agreed on a compromise to this effect in december.