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EU countries are taking different approaches to Chinese 5G vendors because the bloc has shared security guidance but no binding, uniform national implementation. Member States retain responsibility for national security, and governments differ in how they assess vendor risk, economic exposure and the cost of changing infrastructure. A 1 October 2026 RUSI paper argues for common European criteria that still allow decisions to reflect the sector and its risks—not a blanket ban on Chinese companies.
Why EU policy is uneven
The EU adopted its 5G Security Toolbox in January 2020 to help governments and operators identify and mitigate network-security risks. But the Toolbox is non-binding: it offers a shared framework rather than requiring every country to impose the same restrictions on the same vendors.
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The division of responsibilities helps explain the gap. The European Court of Auditors describes national security as a Member State responsibility, while the European Commission and other EU bodies support and coordinate national action. The Commission used soft-law measures because it approached 5G security through that national-security lens. In its 1 October 2026 coverage of the RUSI paper, The Register reported that 10 of the EU’s 27 Member States had fully implemented the Toolbox. That is The Register’s reported count, not a tally independently established here.
Implementation is only part of the difference. Governments also weigh the sensitivity of a network or service, the ability to scrutinise suppliers, the availability of replacements and the economic effects of changing equipment. A common framework can set shared expectations without dictating identical decisions in every sector or country.
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What the security concern is—and is not
Software, dependence and potential state leverage
The European Court of Auditors says 5G has a larger attack surface than 3G or 4G because it relies more heavily on software. It also identifies risks from relying on a limited number of vendors, including the prospect of supply disruption. A further concern is that a hostile state could seek privileged access, exert pressure on a vendor or use legal requirements to influence its conduct.
These are exposure pathways and governance concerns, not proof that Huawei, ZTE or another named supplier has spied on or attacked an EU network. Nor is vendor origin a substitute for assessing technical security: software vulnerabilities can affect products from suppliers in countries considered trusted, too. The policy question is how to assess and reduce risks—including vendor and state-influence risks—alongside the cybersecurity weaknesses that can arise in any technology.
Estimated 5G supplier shares in Germany and Spain
The Register, reporting figures from the RUSI comparison, put Chinese suppliers’ estimated shares of 5G radio access network equipment in 2024 at 59% in Germany and 32% in Spain. These estimates describe equipment share; they do not indicate that either country’s network was compromised.
How the national approaches differ
RUSI compares Germany, Spain and the UK. The country descriptions below reflect The Register’s account of that comparison and its temporal frame; they are not a complete inventory of each government’s current policy.
| Country | Reported approach or context | Estimated Chinese supplier share of 5G RAN in 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | The Register says Germany had historically balanced supply-chain risk reduction against economic ties with China. RUSI did not expect a material near-term change in Germany’s 5G RAN mix. | 59%, as estimated in the RUSI comparison and reported by The Register. |
| Spain | The Register describes Spain as often favouring cost-effective procurement and recounts controversy over a Huawei contract involving storage of judicial wiretap recordings. | 32%, as estimated in the RUSI comparison and reported by The Register. |
| UK | The Register describes the UK as moving toward removing Chinese technology from its telecom network. | Not stated in the cited RUSI figures as reported by The Register. |
The examples show why a single EU-wide rule can encounter practical differences: countries have distinct installed equipment, procurement histories and transition costs. The figures do not, on their own, establish whether one country’s approach is safer than another’s.
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What RUSI recommends instead of a blanket ban
RUSI’s 1 October 2026 paper, High-Risk ICT Vendors and Critical Infrastructure: European Approaches, by Jamie MacColl, Dr Pia Hüsch, Natasha Buckley and Sophie Williams-Dunning, calls for a more coherent but flexible European approach. Its recommendations focus on how governments identify, assess and manage risk:
- Set common criteria. Agree European criteria for identifying and managing high-risk ICT vendors, while adapting decisions to the sector and the risk profile of the infrastructure.
- Build national assessment capacity. Develop dedicated institutions and expertise that can assess vendors, advise procurement authorities and monitor how policy is implemented.
- Map supply-chain dependencies. Improve visibility not only into the named supplier but also into dependencies across ICT supply chains.
- Connect security and economic policy. Consider industrial strategy and economic factors alongside security objectives, including support for competitive European alternatives.
- Define scope and complement resilience work. Distinguish risks associated with different vendors, and make vendor-specific measures part of—not a replacement for—wider cybersecurity and resilience efforts.
This is not a recommendation to treat all Chinese suppliers as interchangeable or to assume a product is unsafe because of its country of origin. The Register’s account notes that RUSI sees blanket exclusions as insufficient to solve underlying software and supply-chain problems: vulnerabilities can also affect products made by vendors from countries considered trusted.
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Changing telecom equipment can be expensive and disruptive, which helps explain why countries may move at different speeds. The European Court of Auditors estimated in 2021 that 5G deployment across EU Member States through 2025 would require €281 billion to €391 billion. Separately, it cited a June 2020 report estimating that restricting a key 5G infrastructure vendor could cost almost €2.4 billion per year over the next decade—€24 billion in total.
These are historical estimates, not current spending totals or a bill for any specific national policy. They illustrate the scale of the trade-off; they do not show that restrictions are unjustified. A decision also depends on the threat being addressed, the value of reducing exposure, transition timing, available alternatives and the consequences of continued dependence.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How an EU-wide approach could balance consistency and flexibility
RUSI’s recommendations point toward common methods rather than an identical vendor list imposed without regard to context. A workable assessment would need to consider several questions together:
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- Consistency: Do countries use comparable criteria and explain decisions in a way that makes cross-border infrastructure risks easier to manage?
- Sector sensitivity: Does the assessment account for the function and consequences of a particular system, rather than applying one rule to every technology and service?
- Assessment capability: Can national institutions independently evaluate vendors and keep track of whether required mitigations are in place?
- Supply-chain visibility: Can authorities see relevant dependencies beyond the prime contractor, including those that could affect continuity or security?
- Transition feasibility: Are replacement equipment, skilled capacity and realistic implementation timelines available, and are costs weighed against the risk?
- Resilience beyond vendor choice: Do vendor-specific decisions sit alongside measures to address software vulnerabilities and broader cyber resilience?
The Commission proposal is separate from the RUSI recommendations
On 20 January 2026, the Associated Press reported that the European Commission had proposed mandatory cybersecurity measures that included phasing out equipment from designated high-risk suppliers within three years. AP said the proposal did not name countries or companies, although reporting interpreted it as aimed at firms such as Huawei and ZTE. The AP report described the measures as requiring approval; it does not establish that the proposal later became binding law.
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“Our proposal is about protecting EU citizens and businesses by securing the ICT supply chains that support the critical sectors of our economy and society.”
That was European Commission Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, quoted by AP. Huawei, also quoted by AP, argued that restrictions based on country of origin rather than factual evidence and technical standards would violate EU fairness, non-discrimination and proportionality principles as well as WTO obligations. That is the company’s position, not an adjudicated legal finding.
The Commission proposal and RUSI’s recommendations are distinct policy tracks: one is a reported legislative proposal whose later status is not established by the cited AP account; the other is a think tank’s case for shared criteria, stronger national capacity and supply-chain visibility. Both address a common challenge: reducing critical-infrastructure exposure while making decisions that are evidence-based, workable and suited to the risks of each sector.
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