Norway is already negotiating with the European Commission on joining the satellite network program, but neither Ukraine nor the UK have yet started negotiations.
Their connection gives IRIS², the cost of which is expected to be € 10.6 billion, and its launch into operation in the 2030s will include about 280 satellites, the ability to win the market share.
“I would not mind,” said Cubilyus, answering the question of whether such countries that are not part of the EU can officially join the multibillion -dollar space program.
According to Cubillus, Great Britain has extensive experience in the space sphere, and Ukraine has significant potential, since in Soviet times it served as a key space center.
Iceland, which, like Norway, is also the country of the European economic zone, said that at the beginning of this month she completed negotiations with the commission on participation in Iris².
The Cubillus statement was made a few weeks after the submission of the EU Law on the Cosmos, which was introduced by the European Commission on June 25 and provoked intensive negotiations on the scope of the rules. The provisions of the bill in the future may prevent companies like SpaceX Mask to gain access to EU consumers using their satellite services, the publication notes.
Context
After the start of the full-scale invasion of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation to Ukraine in 2022, Ukraine received Starlink terminals, which communicate to the Ukrainian military and residents of the de-Ukrainian settlements.
The Supreme Commander -in -Chief of the NATO ORS, according to the transformation, Admiral Pierre Vandier in May 2025 stated that Europe should urgently join the space race to confront the mask, Russia and China. According to him, the Russian war against Ukraine showed the importance of space assets for communication on the battlefield and collected intelligence and painfully emphasized European dependence on a limited number of American companies, mainly SpaceX, the commander said.
