According to a preliminary internal analysis from Eurospace, which Agence Europe had access to on Wednesday 6 June, the space industry is hoping that co-legislators will increase the budget for space to €18 billion for the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, as opposed to the €16 billion proposed by the European Commission.
Whilst welcoming the budget proposed by the Commission (see EUROPE 12035), the industry considers that the budget dedicated to the encrypted governmental communication programme, GovSatCom, will not be enough to cover the needs of users or help strengthen the competitiveness of the industry and reduce the dependency of the Union on US technologies and services.
The authors of the analysis also have questions regarding the financing level for Copernicus (€5.8 billion) and are hoping that space research will receive €3 billion over the next budget cycle. They also point out that the Commission has abandoned the idea of redistributing the funds between programmes within a certain cap.
It should be recalled that the industry did request a €22 billion budget for space policy for the next multiannual financial framework (see EUROPE 12004). The €16 billion budget would, however, be a “substantial increase” compared to the original proposal, according to Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission Vice President for the Energy Union. This has been confirmed by a senior internal source, who pointed out that the original proposal was slightly below €10 billion.
Implementing regions and organisations are satisfied. Nereus, which represents a network of regions involved in the sector, said that it was satisfied with the budget allocated to Galileo/Egnos and Copernicus. It then highlighted the key role played by the regions in using the data that is generated (particularly by Copernicus) and the challenges relating to skills.
Mercator Ocean, the body in charge of monitoring the oceans for the Copernicus programme and which is also working with the regions and Nereus, recognised the “ambition” displayed by the programme. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)