In June 2019, seven EU Member States signed the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure (EuroQCI) Declaration at the Digital Assembly in Bucharest, Romania. Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, and Spain were the initial signatories. The declaration committed the participating countries to working with the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop and deploy a quantum communication infrastructure across the EU.
According to the European Commission, the EuroQCI will consist of a terrestrial segment using fiber communication networks linking strategic sites at national and cross-border level, and a space segment based on satellites. The infrastructure is intended to safeguard sensitive data and protect critical infrastructure by integrating quantum-based encryption systems into existing communication networks.
Hungary, Portugal, and Poland joined the initiative in July 2019. Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Finland, France, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden signed in December 2019. All 27 EU Member States eventually endorsed the declaration.