In July 2019, Hungary signed the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure (EuroQCI) Declaration, joining Portugal and Poland in the second wave of signatories. According to the European Commission, the three countries committed to working with the Commission and the European Space Agency toward the development and deployment of a European quantum communication infrastructure within the next ten years.
Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, and Spain had initially signed the declaration at the Digital Assembly in Bucharest in June 2019. Hungary’s accession brought the total number of signatory states to ten at the time. All 27 EU Member States eventually joined the initiative.
Under the EuroQCI, participating countries agreed to develop a secure quantum communication infrastructure spanning the EU, composed of a terrestrial segment using fiber communication networks and a space segment based on satellites. The declared purpose was to protect critical infrastructures, sensitive communications, financial transactions, and long-term storage of sensitive data in areas including healthcare and national security.