The European Parliament adopted by 603 votes to 6 with 39 abstentions, on Tuesday 14 February, the Interinstitutional Agreement on the regulation establishing the ‘IRIS²’ Constellation for Secure Connectivity (see EUROPE 13073/13).
On 15 February 2022 (see EUROPE 12891/3), the European Commission proposed a constellation for secure connectivity, which was agreed by the European Parliament and EU Council on 17 November (see EUROPE 13065/1).
“The EU already has eyes with Copernicus, compasses with Galileo; tomorrow, with Iris², the EU will have the means to communicate by satellite in a secure way”, summarised the European Parliament rapporteur Christophe Grudler (Renew Europe, French).
The project, funded by the EU to the tune of €2.4 billion, will provide ultra-secure communication services for Member States and improve Internet coverage. The constellation, which will be owned by the EU, will be based on new satellites and existing capacity.
After this approval by the European Parliament, the text must be formally adopted by the EU Council before being published in the Official Journal of the EU.
Commissioner Thierry Breton announced that calls for tender would be launched “within a month” so that industry can start submitting proposals to build, launch and deploy IRIS² in space “for the start of initial services in 2024 and full services in 2027”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)