« #Italian gov’s possible adoption of #Starlink satellite comms system would b politicl & economic error, domestic & #EU legislators have warned, as gov doubled down on decision & #Musk revelled in the debate

If deal→signed, #Italy→1st EU country 2 formally engage w/ Musk’s #SpaceX. But would raise ?? abt its alignment w/ #European strategic priorities, including setup of EU’s #IRIS2 constellation, while potentially costing Italy jobs, sovereignty, & strategic autonomy»

euractiv.com/section/politics/…

in reply to joe•iuculano

It is clearly a commutative agreement in which something is given in exchange to something else. The real question is what the Italian government is expecting to receive in return (lower tariffs one exports, maybe?).

If the deal were signed it would be a brave political move, anticipating any other EU country (including other non-aligned ones like Hungary and Slovakia), and a risky one too (hope they know what they are doing and trust the people they're negotiating with).

One may object about the use of public expenditure (especially because Italy is bound to participate in IRIS too so paying twice for similar services) but every government takes such decisions on how to allocate funds.