European Commission blacklists groups lobbying for Huawei

The European Commission will no longer meet with organizations lobbying on behalf of Huawei, following an investigation into alleged corruption at the European Parliament that would have benefited the Chinese technology firm.

"The Commission shall not meet with any lobby groups and/or trade associations that represent Huawei’s interests and/or speak on its behalf," the Commission's spokesperson service told POLITICO in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement sent shockwaves through Brussels, where the Chinese firm has a large lobbying footprint spanning policy areas from tech to automotive and energy, and is a member or has contracts with a wide range of business associations, consultancies, law firms and others.

On Thursday, after POLITICO reported the measure, the Commission clarified it would still allow organizations that have Huawei as a member or client inside the institution if it relates to meetings that don't touch upon policy issues in the Chinese firm's interests.

Meetings would still be considered on an "ad hoc basis," Commission spokesperson Olof Gill told reporters on Thursday. "It is not practical or possible to prevent umbrella organizations that could have hundreds of members" from entering the European Commission, he said.

"There are smart people here in the European Commission that have the ability to understand whether a particular issue being on the agenda with a particular umbrella organization relates to issues that are of interest to Huawei," Gill said. "If there's any hint that agenda points of any meetings go in the wrong direction, then we put a stop to it. It's as simple as that."

The Commission had already banned "contact and meetings" with Huawei officials in March, just days after Belgian investigators launched a corruption probe into the Chinese technology company's activities in Brussels.

Wednesday's statement said the ban extended to "any intermediaries acting on Huawei’s behalf who would engage in meetings and other contacts with Commission staff to advance the interests of the company."

At least eight people have been charged by the Belgian prosecutor — including one of Huawei’s most senior executives in Europe — with active corruption, money laundering and criminal organization, after a series of police raids of premises in Belgium, France and Portugal.

Huawei is listed as a member of 22 associations in the European Union’s transparency register, which tracks corporate lobbying activities. Several of these, like DigitalEurope, BusinessEurope and the European Internet Forum, have already moved to suspend the Chinese company in response to the bribery scandal.

Several other organizations told POLITICO at the end of March that they were "closely monitoring the situation." Some took measures to distance themselves in the past weeks.

At SolarPower Europe, Huawei representatives still hold key roles but the organization has scaled back the company’s "non-membership financial commitments," a spokesperson for the association previously confirmed. SolarPower Europe did not immediately respond to POLITICO's request for an update on its work with Huawei.

Think tank CERRE, which has Huawei as a member, previously said it had the situation “under close review." It declined to comment for this article.

The European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO), where Huawei is still listed as a member, is reviewing the company’s status with results expected on April 29, it said in a comment.

Other organizations that list Huawei as a member, including Eurelectric, the European Association for Storage of Energy, Bruegel, FTTH and ECTA, did not immediately respond to a request for comment or an update on previous statements about their work with the Chinese tech firm.

Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It said in a previous statement: "The company maintains a zero-tolerance stance against corruption. As always, we are fully committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations."

This article was updated on Thursday April 24 to clarify the extent of the measure based on a new statement by the European Commission spokesperson.