Negotiations in the EU Council on the regulation to establish a new European constellation for secure connectivity are progressing “well”, but have been delayed by an opinion expected from the EU Council’s Security Committee, according to information learned on Thursday 5 May.
The constellation regulation was briefly discussed at the Space Working Group on Wednesday 4 May, with the French Presidency of the EU Council holding only an information point, since national delegations are waiting for an opinion from the EU Council’s Security Committee regarding certain articles relating to security governance. The French Presidency had set a deadline of mid-April, a source told us, but for the time being only a provisional version of the opinion has been drawn up.
The role of the Security Committee is to examine all questions relating to the protection of EU classified information on EU rules and policies, agreements on the exchange of classified information with non-Member States or international organisations, or between the EU institutions.
However, according to another source, the issues raised are related to security matters. Three points were raised by the national delegations: - governance related to EuroQCI, the European initiative intended to establish a European quantum communication infrastructure; - classified information drawn up by the European Space Agency (Art. 35); - the competent authority for secure connectivity.
As for the European Parliament, the rapporteur for the regulation will be Christophe Grudler (Renew Europe, France). The schedule is not yet known, but the vote is most likely to take place during the second half of the year. To see the latest French compromise: https://aeur.eu/f/1jh (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)