In global 5G race, European Union is told to step up pace

BRUSSELS — As the United States grapples with the 5G rollout affecting airlines, a European Union watchdog warned on Monday the EU faces much bigger economic and security threats unless member countries step up cooperation. “There are considerable delays in the member states’ deployment of 5G networks and further efforts are necessary to address security issues in 5G deployment,” the Luxembourg-based ECA said in its 69-page evaluation. While the U.S. government has taken a hard line against Chinese suppliers’ involvement in American 5G networks, the European Commission — the EU’s executive arm — has t Although the EU has come up with a “toolbox” to align national approaches to classifying high-risk 5G vendors, ambiguities exist and the whole initiative needs more bloc-wide regulatory teeth, according to the ECA. The European Commission sought to offer assurances on 5G security after the ECA published its report, saying in a statement that it’s “very attentive to reinforcing the security of 5G networks” and that, based on the toolbox, “most member states have managed to protect the most sensitive parts of the networks from high-risk suppliers.” ___ This story has been corrected to show that the currency conversion in the 14th paragraph is $452 billion, not $352 billion.