After hesitating on the way forward on access to space, Member States finally seem to be moving towards a real desire for independence vis-à-vis non-Member States, where a number of them would have preferred European autonomy - a more flexible political approach (see EUROPE 12251/15).
Thus, in the final version of the conclusions on space for the next Competitiveness Council adopted at the EU Council's Space working meeting on 8 May, it is written that the Council recognises a necessity for Europe to maintain “a secure, autonomous, reliable, cost-effective and affordable access to space”, before reiterating “the strategic importance of independent access to space”.
Specifying an objective of "independence" was an important point for Belgium, France, Portugal, Italy and Greece, which wanted to stress the need to ensure the EU's independence in terms of access to space. Germany and the United Kingdom remained silent. According to one source, Germany has always been more in favour of an approach of autonomy rather than independence.
The European preference appears, without saying who, in the October 2016 Space Strategy (see EUROPE 11655/9), although since then the attitude of the European Commission has sometimes confused some actors and observers in the sector (see EUROPE 12100/17).
The conclusions on space are expected to be adopted at the next EU Council meeting on 28 May in Brussels. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)