The participation of the US Planet company in the European terrestrial observation Copernicus programme announced at the beginning of September does not appear to be to everyone's taste within at the European institutions, particularly when it comes to the French MEP Dominique Riquet (ALDE).
The company specialises in high resolution and high-speed imaging and has its official HQ in California. Its shareholders include the Internet giant, Google. On 6 September last it announced that it would be extending its participation in the emergency management service, land monitoring service and the Copernicus security service.
This news particularly made waves at the European Parliament. Dominique Riquet informed EUROPE “I am very concerned that the money from European programmes such as Copernicus are not primarily benefiting European companies”. The MEP is particularly vigilant when it comes to the participation of third country participants in European programmes, particularly in the defence and space domains.
This interpretation is shared by a number of other actors within the Brussels bubble. One European source close to the dossier explained “Planet is not a pleasantly ‘disruptive’ SME. It is the armed wing of Google for ensuring hegemony in land observation, similarly to what has already happened in a lot of other areas”. In his opinion, this decision runs counter to the objectives listed in article 189 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which seeks to improve the EU's industrial competitiveness in the space sector. Our source concluded "It is difficult to see how European industrial competitiveness will be improved by this".
There is a problem of reciprocity between the US and European Union. In the former we have been informed that the “Buy American Act” is being introduced and prevents us public authorities from purchasing from foreign providers. This helps to create exclusive access for the US private sector to the national institutional market. This situation enables them to make particularly competitive offers on the European market which is, by definition, an open one.
Our source exclaimed “What is the advantage of being free, in part, from depending on the US government (particularly with regard to the GPS by setting up Galileo - Ed) if it is to create a new imbalance in favour of the GAFA?”
Another parliamentary source considers, however, that this announcement by the US company comes “just at the right time” given that the co-legislators are beginning their negotiations on the future European space programme. One of the challenges of the latter is to guarantee autonomous access to EU Space projects and strengthen competitiveness in the European Space sector (see EUROPE 12066). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)