Slovenia was among nine EU member states that signed the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure (EuroQCI) declaration in December 2019, joining an initiative originally launched in June 2019 by seven countries at the Digital Assembly in Bucharest. Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Finland, France, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, and Slovenia all joined in the same round, according to the European Commission announcement.
Rudi Medved, Slovenia’s Minister of Public Administration, stated that Europe “must remain a global superpower in terms of investing in quantum technology” and called for “joint cooperation between countries to explore the possibilities of introducing secure quantum communication in space and on earth.” The signatory countries agreed to work with the European Commission and the European Space Agency to explore the development and deployment of a pan-European quantum communication infrastructure within ten years.
EuroQCI would consist of a terrestrial segment using existing fibre communication networks and a space-based segment using satellites, with the goal of protecting critical infrastructures, sensitive communications, and financial transactions against cyber threats.