{"id":360105,"date":"2025-08-20T18:40:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T18:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/360105\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T18:40:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T18:40:13","slug":"huaweis-reach-in-spain-sparks-widespread-concern-over-state-infiltration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/360105\/","title":{"rendered":"Huawei’s reach in Spain sparks widespread concern over state infiltration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nMADRID \u2013 Spanish magistrates, law enforcement leaders and opposition politicians are voicing alarm over Madrid\u2019s unusually close ties to Beijing, as the Chinese tech giant\u2019s footprint in Spain\u2019s public sector is deeper than first thought.<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe concerns have intensified since July, when reports<\/a> surfaced of an alleged \u20ac12.3 million contract between 2021 and 2025 for Huawei to store sensitive judicial wiretap data for the interior ministry.\n<\/p>\n

\nOpposition Popular Party (PP) secretary general Miguel Tellado branded the public tender \u201cshady\u201d and claimed it was part of \u201cthe Chinese branch of Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u2019s enormous corruption network.\u201d The PP is also demanding<\/a> that S\u00e1nchez\u2019s top ministers testify before parliament after the summer recess.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe interior ministry has denied the existence of the Huawei agreement and did not clarify whether the initial \u20ac12.3 million figure was part of a broader deal with Spanish firms such as Telef\u00f3nica, TRC or Econocom, as several local outlets<\/a> have suggested.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe alleged deal has landed at a politically delicate moment for the Socialist-led government, already reeling from multiple corruption scandals<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\nHuawei’s large footprint<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhile the political row has focused on the interior ministry, several public tenders made public in the past weeks reveal contracts for “repairing” or “expanding” existing Huawei storage equipment in other state departments.\n<\/p>\n

\nSuch is the \u20ac322.000 two-year contract signed<\/a> last October by the national railway operator (ADIF) to “repair” Huawei technology already incorporated into the country’s rail network communication systems.\n<\/p>\n

\nSpain’s national healthcare system also awarded<\/a> a \u20ac477.000 contract to national telecom giant Telef\u00f3nica to “maintain” over the next two years an existing Huawei storage hardware installed in its IT department.\n<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThese are common practices to ensure the proper functioning of this equipment,\u201d a healthcare system spokesperson said.\n<\/p>\n

\nAccording to them, the hardware \u201cdoes not store databases or information from social security system applications\u201d but is \u201cused to store server configuration information and analyse anomalies.\u201d Euractiv could not verify this claim independently.\n<\/p>\n

\nOther public tenders from the Spanish police, dating back to 2022, show <\/a>Huawei backup systems used in the force’s storage infrastructure for the “comprehensive border control storage system of the police.”\n<\/p>\n

\nAnother 2023 tender, seen by Euractiv, from the Guardia Civil\u2019s Central Operational Unit \u2013 one of Spain\u2019s top law enforcement bodies \u2013 indicated the unit needed additional components for existing Huawei storage systems and servers used at the highly sensitive Gibraltar border.\n<\/p>\n

\nA deeper concern<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn Madrid, magistrates and law enforcement are particularly worried about the Chinese firm handling highly sensitive police wiretap data.\n<\/p>\n

\n“We are neither blind nor deaf, and the fact that a company has its headquarters outside Spain causes us concern, ” a magistrate told Euractiv.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n“There may be delays or difficulties in gathering this information, or in the worst case, the request may even be denied due to their own regulations,” they said, adding that there is also a risk of “sensitive data being leaked.”\n<\/p>\n

\nLaw enforcement agencies share those concerns, especially over the potential exposure of sensitive information at a time when security forces are under intense scrutiny for prosecuting<\/a> high-profile political figures.\n<\/p>\n

\n“We are concerned about contracting any services from companies belonging to countries that are not fully democratic,” said a spokesperson for the Guardia Civil association. Such is the case of China and Huawei, an officer added, “where the line between the state and private corporations is rather thin or non-existent.”\n<\/p>\n

\nSpain\u2019s national police force has also warned of possible isolation from allied security services. Its largest union, JUPOL, said Madrid’s ties to Huawei \u2013 a company with alleged links to the “Chinese state apparatus” \u2013\u00a0pose “serious risks” and could “jeopardise international cooperation” with foreign police forces and intelligence services.\n<\/p>\n

\n“This could have very negative consequences for police effectiveness and the fight against organised crime, terrorism, and other global threats,” the police officer added.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\nWith magistrates, police and political opponents all warning of national security risks, the question is no longer whether the controversy will return after summer, but how explosive it will be.\n<\/p>\n

\n(mm, cs)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADRID \u2013 Spanish magistrates, law enforcement leaders and opposition politicians are voicing alarm over Madrid\u2019s unusually close ties…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-360105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115062559496262795","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}