Doesn’t Draghi want chinoiserie from Rai and Fastweb?
Draghi imposes Golden Power on a supply contract signed between Fastweb and the Chinese ZTE. And Fastweb itself is in partnership with the Chinese Huawei for the construction of the Rai Way fiber network
Golden Power made in Mario Draghi.
The prime minister has blocked a contract for the supply of 5G technology to Fastweb by the Chinese company Zte. Meanwhile, another Chinese is ready to install its technologies to build the Rai Way fiber network. Will Draghi also intervene on this front, should it be necessary?
Someone wishes it. Here are all the details.
GOLDEN POWER FASTWEB-ZTE
Let's start with Mario Draghi's decision. The Prime Minister, writes Formiche , "exercised the golden power on a contract for the supply of 5G technology to Fastweb by the Chinese company Zte and the Taiwanese company Askey".
The stop was ratified with a Prime Ministerial Decree of 11 March, in which Draghi exercised special powers "with prescriptions", in relation to "the notification by Fastweb Spa concerning the purchase of CPE 5G Askey and ZTE and services professional such as validation support, training, technical support through TAC ", as stated in an extract of the decree delivered to Parliament.
WHAT THE STOP TO FASTWEB PROVIDES
In particular, Draghi has decided that Fastweb will not be able to purchase CPE 5G (Customer Premise Equipment) from the Chinese ZTE, technologies that convert the 5G signal into Wi-Fi signals.
BACKGROUND ON FASTWEB
If this is the first Golden power for Mario Draghi, it is not for Fastweb which was canceled, in 2020, with Giuseppe Conte at Palazzo Chigi, a contract with Huawei and a contract with Zte.
THE NOTICE FOR RAI WAY FIBER
Will Draghi also intervene on the Rai Way front, in line with EU guidelines? Rai, through its subsidiary Rai Way, will have to assign and start the construction site for the construction of a fiber network in the coming weeks. As per the minutes of October 12, 2020 , there are three companies in the running: Tim, Rti Irideos with Terna energy solutions and Fastweb, in partnership (on technology) with the Chinese company Huawei.
THE CAVILLO OF THE TENDER NOTICE
Huawei can participate in the tender thanks to a technicality present in the same, as La Verità writes in an article signed by Claudio Antonelli: "Those who participate in the tender must indicate whether the technology comes from nations that recognize similar social security or social security protections to those applied in Italy or in Europe or in States that have entered into bilateral agreements on this matter with Rome. If the production takes place in several states, the bidder will be able to indicate in which nation at least 50% of the production takes place ”, explains the Truth .
“On the one hand – adds the newspaper – the clause has a positive value because it requires that at least 50% of the technology must be assembled in Europe and consequently excludes players outside our perimeter. The fact that by production we also mean the assembly of the pieces can be read in another way, above all by relating it to the obligations of a social security nature. That of 50% is a quibble which therefore allows Chinese companies like Huawei to participate in the tenders themselves. If Rai Way had not set a threshold, but had limited itself to indicating in full the obligation to comply with social security or welfare criteria aligned with the Italian ones, no Chinese brand would have passed the first step of the tender ".
THE HOPE OF GALIETTI
An intervention by Draghi, in this sense, is desirable by the analyst and founder of Policy Sonar, Francesco Galietti, of the Luiss Business School. “The ban is constructed in such a way that it is not taken into account that in China there is a very different focus on worker protection and this translates into lower prices. This is an aspect that for us who are in the West, who instead care about social protection, should be treated in a different way ”, underlined Galietti, speaking to Striscia la Notizia.
Shut up, #Xi listens to you: my speech last night on Striscia https://t.co/42LkScHDSr
– Francesco Galietti (@ galietti82) March 25, 2021
DATA PROBLEMS ACCORDING TO GALIETTI
But the question does not end with social protections. The problem is with the data and how it is used.
“The European Commission, on several occasions, has clarified some things – added Galietti – One of these is that we need to assess the reliability of the contractor and to do so we must also take into account the so-called regulatory risk. In the case of the Chinese, the regulatory risk is very high because Chinese companies are required, due to orders from their government, the authorities and the Chinese Communist Party, to secretly share information with Beijing. This is obviously a very big problem, so it is only to be hoped that given the delicacy of the things we are talking about, whoever has to make the choices will take into account both the aspects of social protection, but above all, the reliability of the contractor ”. And on this "the EU has set a rigid line that all member states must abide by".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/draghi-non-vuole-cineserie-da-rai-e-fastweb/ on Thu, 25 Mar 2021 14:13:25 +0000.