Abstract: The surrounding body (1) serves to surround the end, a branching or a connecting point of a high-voltage cable. It has an element (3) with a nonlinear current-voltage characteristic line, which serves to control the electric field in the surrounding area. The field control element (3) contains a polymer and a filler embedded in the polymer und containing microvaristors, as well as at least a hollow body section extending along an axis (2) and designed flat, with an axially symmetrical inner surface conductive by deforming the surrounding body (1) to an outer surface of the cable. To ensure good field control in cables, which are operated at high voltages, the inner surface of the hollow body section is designed as a variation of the outer surface of the cable and in such a way that the field control in the surrounding area is achieved by altering the number of microvaristors per surface unit as a result of expansion and/or shrinking of the hollow body section after deforming.