Once political activity is over, you may choose to pursue a career in communications. This is what Mirella Liuzzi, a former deputy of the 5 Star Movement and former undersecretary of the Ministry of Economic Development in the Conte II government, who recently took on the role of strategic advisor on Huawei’s marketing and communications projects, must have been thinking. Liuzzi himself announced this in a post on Linkedin.
Problems with Huawei
A lot has been talked about and is still being talked about about the Chinese giant that produces telecommunication systems and smartphones. The People’s Republic company has been subject to trade restrictions by the United States for years for national security reasons.
The fear of many Western governments is that the Shenzhen company providing the infrastructure for 5G, the latest generation of mobile communications, could be a Trojan horse for the Chinese Communist Party. Alarm reached Brussels from Washington. In 2020, the European Commission published recommendations urging member states to protect 5G networks from high-risk providers. According to the commission, “billions of connected objects and systems are at stake, including critical sectors such as energy, transportation, banking and healthcare” and “a hostile third country could put pressure on 5G providers to facilitate cyberattacks that serve its national interests”. But Now the Commission wants to go further. European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton recently feared a ban on the Chinese company, noting the slowness of governments in implementing measures proposed in 2020.
Golden power during the Draghi government
Something took off in Italy during the Draghi government. The former president of the European Central Bank, then at the head of the Italian administration, applied golden power (special powers) to Tim and Vodafone’s development plans in 2022, gradually excluding Huawei and Zte from the infrastructure. Ericsson, Nokia and some US suppliers.
The golden power exists to protect the ownership structures of companies operating in sectors considered to be of strategic and national interest. The law envisages special powers that can be used in some areas of activity defined as having strategic importance in the energy, transportation and communication sectors, as well as in the defense and national security sectors. By special powers (golden power) we mean, inter alia, the power to set certain conditions for the acquisition of shares, to veto the adoption of certain corporate decisions and to oppose the acquisition of shares.
Draghi applies golden power to 5G
Two Italian companies, which have been excellent customers of the Chinese group for years and gave 51 percent of the infrastructure to Huawei and ZTE, had to step back for this reason. Conclusion? They reduced the Chinese group’s presence in networks and, in particular, radio access networks (RAN) equipment.
Liuzzi’s admiration for Huawei
The former Conte II government official apparently did not receive the alarm triggered in both Washington and Brussels. Liuzzi, who was a member of parliament for the 5 Star Movement from 2013 to 2022, had always admired Huawei. So much so that in September 2018, shortly after leaving his post as secretary of the parliamentary group specifically concerned with telecommunications (March 2018), he gave a speech at the Huawei 5G Summit about the potential of 5G connectivity. Later, in the government of Conte II, he was granted a position as undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Economic Development from 2019 to 2021. As MISE undersecretary, Liuzzi also pursued the 5G dossier, one of Huawei’s main interests.
Source: Today IT
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
