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Whether you are watching TV, using your phone to navigate a new city, or a farmer steering your tractors across fields using GPS, you probably use satellite communication every day. Good connectivity is also vital to optimise our preparedness and response to crises such as environmental disasters. Satellite communication systems have two elements – on the ground and in orbit. Around 5 000 satellites are active in orbit right now, operating at different altitudes. But the space left to operate further constellations is limited.
In 2023, the European Union introduced a regulation to develop and deploy a new EU-owned multi-orbital satellite constellation, named IRIS² – EU Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite. Services should be delivered through a public-private partnership, primarily serving government services, with private sector commercial services following later on.
Parliament kept the objectives of the twin digital and ecological transition in mind during negotiations on the European Commission’s 2022 proposal, aiming at ensuring long-term availability of worldwide and uninterrupted access to secure and cost-effective satellite communication services. Regarding the first, the Parliament demanded that satellite developments should also ‘enable affordable access’, and increase cohesion both in the EU and the rest of the world. On the transition to green technologies, Parliament negotiated two amendments to the proposal, to ensure compliance with space sustainability principles. Greenhouse gas emissions generated by the development, production and deployment of the infrastructure should be minimised, and a plan to mitigate space debris should be included.
A contract between the European Commission and companies developing the infrastructure was expected to be signed in March 2024, to make IRIS² fully operational by 2027, but this has been delayed.
In a 2023 resolution on critical technologies for security and defence, Parliament meanwhile urged the Commission to include its findings on EU strategic dependencies in space in a classified report it is preparing for Member States on critical technologies and risks.
Parliament thus used its law-making powers to help shape plans for IRIS². Parliament’s powers fall broadly into six, often overlapping, domains: law-making, the budget, scrutiny of the executive, external relations, and, to a lesser extent, constitutional affairs and agenda-setting. This graphic shows more examples of areas where Parliament used one or more of its different powers to influence legislation:
Mapping the European Parliament’s powers in different areas
For a fuller picture of the European Parliament’s activity over the past five years, take a look at our publication Examples of Parliament’s impact: 2019 to 2024: Illustrating the powers of the European Parliament, from which this case is drawn.
[[{“value”:”
Whether you are watching TV, using your phone to navigate a new city, or a farmer steering your tractors across fields using GPS, you probably use satellite communication every day. Good connectivity is also vital to optimise our preparedness and response to crises such as environmental disasters. Satellite communication systems have two elements – on the ground and in orbit. Around 5 000 satellites are active in orbit right now, operating at different altitudes. But the space left to operate further constellations is limited.
In 2023, the European Union introduced a regulation to develop and deploy a new EU-owned multi-orbital satellite constellation, named IRIS² – EU Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite. Services should be delivered through a public-private partnership, primarily serving government services, with private sector commercial services following later on.
Parliament kept the objectives of the twin digital and ecological transition in mind during negotiations on the European Commission’s 2022 proposal, aiming at ensuring long-term availability of worldwide and uninterrupted access to secure and cost-effective satellite communication services. Regarding the first, the Parliament demanded that satellite developments should also ‘enable affordable access’, and increase cohesion both in the EU and the rest of the world. On the transition to green technologies, Parliament negotiated two amendments to the proposal, to ensure compliance with space sustainability principles. Greenhouse gas emissions generated by the development, production and deployment of the infrastructure should be minimised, and a plan to mitigate space debris should be included.
A contract between the European Commission and companies developing the infrastructure was expected to be signed in March 2024, to make IRIS² fully operational by 2027, but this has been delayed.
In a 2023 resolution on critical technologies for security and defence, Parliament meanwhile urged the Commission to include its findings on EU strategic dependencies in space in a classified report it is preparing for Member States on critical technologies and risks.
Parliament thus used its law-making powers to help shape plans for IRIS². Parliament’s powers fall broadly into six, often overlapping, domains: law-making, the budget, scrutiny of the executive, external relations, and, to a lesser extent, constitutional affairs and agenda-setting. This graphic shows more examples of areas where Parliament used one or more of its different powers to influence legislation:
Mapping the European Parliament’s powers in different areas
For a fuller picture of the European Parliament’s activity over the past five years, take a look at our publication Examples of Parliament’s impact: 2019 to 2024: Illustrating the powers of the European Parliament, from which this case is drawn.
“}]]