The European Parliament approved its first-reading position on the IRIS² satellite programme on 14 February.
Photo: European flags. © Håkan Dahlström, Spain, 2010 (CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons). Resized and cropped. Historical EU illustration, not the vote.
A contemporary briefing explains the ownership split: the EU would own governmental infrastructure, while a public-private partnership would build and operate it.
Article 21 calls for competitive subcontracting outside the prime contractor’s corporate group, covering at least 30% of contract value when contracts exceed €10 million. Tenderers must explain departures from the percentage or subcontracting request. The Commission must report on those objectives to the programme committee.
This connects public control with wider industrial participation. It doesn’t guarantee SMEs a fixed share, and the vote wasn’t a service launch.
Sources: Parliament briefing; adopted position.
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