During the informal meeting on space with the European Space Agency (ESA) in Tallinn on Tuesday 7 November, the European ministers in charge of space policy were moving towards an agreement on delivering the “necessary” budget resources for continuing the Copernicus terrestrial observation programme. Nothing has so far been decided but this could mean a positive message to the sector.
Ahead of the meeting, the Commissioner for the Single Market and Industry, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, explained, “We need money for this programme and this is why this meeting is very important”. She also said that this programme provided more accurate data than currently existed in the field of terrestrial observation. This request appears to have been listened to accordingly.
According to one diplomatic source, the discussions between the ministers mainly focused on the content of the European programme and not on the specific budgetary provisions. Nonetheless, there was consensus on the crucial importance of the programme and the need to provide it with the “necessary” budget resources. The breakdown details and budget amount have not yet been discussed.
This signal is expected to be warmly received by the space industry. The latter recently wrote to the European Commission Vice President, Maroš Šefčovič, calling on him to provide €20 billion for space policy, of which €7 billion would go to the Copernicus programme (see EUROPE 11882).
The ministers will meet up again to discuss space policy on 1 December during the Competitiveness Council.
Mr Tajani confident about next budget
On Tuesday in Brussels during a conference attended by the French astronaut, Thomas Pesquet, the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, said that he had high hopes for the next European budget for Space, due to the expansion of European defence policy. He also mentioned the need to revise competition rules in an effort to protect European know-how and the European industrial sector against international competitors, particularly China, the US and even Russia.
In reply to a question from EUROPE regarding the Space budget, Mr Pesquet said it was possible to do a lot with a little and that cooperation between the member states had a major role to play. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)