According to the information we had received on Monday 2 July, Eurospace, the organisation representing the space industry, would like to strengthen the provisions for supporting European launchers, particularly the future Ariane 6 and Vega C -launchers included in the regulation establishing the EU 2021-2027 space programme.
On 6 June last, the European Commission presented the new regulation for developing the space programme. This includes support for the space launchers from institutional orders in an effort to guarantee a certain predictability in the European Space sector. This measure was welcomed by the Space sector, which would, nevertheless, like to strengthen in connection with the strategy proposed in October 2016 (see EUROPE 12035).
Article 5 on access to space would therefore be in Eurospace’s sights. The sector would like the principle for awarding institutional orders to be included in the recitals as well as in the body of the regulation itself. One source explained that “the recitals do not have legal value”. In a policy paper published on Friday 29 June, the organisation highlights the need to support the institutional orders for European launchers, particularly the future Ariane 6 and Vega C launchers, given the international competition it describes as “asymmetrical”.
The reasons for this is that contrary to the Arianespace model, which benefits from commercial outlets and external markets, US, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Indian launch services have exclusive access to military and civilian public orders and prices that are much higher than those on the private markets. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)