Pierre Delsaux, the acting deputy director-general of DG Internal Market and Industry (DG GROW), shared his concerns about the budget for space policy during a discussion on European space policy with MEPs from the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) on Wednesday 25 September.
During the speeches, several MEPs, including Carlos Zorrinho (S&D, Portugal) and Manuel Bompard (GUE/NGL, France), asked whether the future EU Agency for the Space Programme and the European Union had sufficient funding in the next multiannual financial framework.
Welcoming the agreement reached on the space programme regulation, Mr Delsaux acknowledged that the budgetary issue was crucial for the future of European space policy. “Clearly the question now is the question of funding”, he conceded, adding: “if the funding is not there, we won’t be able to deliver”. The senior official also stressed the need to attract massive private investment, referring to the American ‘NewSpace’.
For the time being, the budget issue is bracketed in the regulation and remains suspended in the negotiation box. The European Commission is proposing 16 billion euros (see EUROPE 12035/3), while the European Parliament has suggested 16.9 billion euros (see EUROPE 12142/7). As a reminder, the space industry had for a time hoped to obtain 22 billion euros in the next multiannual financial framework (see EUROPE 12004/20).
Governance in question. Another issue discussed by MEPs was governance between the European Space Agency (ESA), the future EU Space Agency and the European Commission. For Mr Delsaux, the agreement reached with difficulty between the three institutions is a good “compromise”. “We need to stop fighting between ourselves”, he nevertheless acknowledged, referring to the many tensions between ESA and the European Commission on the issue of competences. “If we do not work together with all the competences that exist between ESA, GSA and the European Commission, we will simply not be able to cope with global competition”, he warned.
European Buy Act. MEP Christophe Grudler (Renew Europe, France), for his part, wondered whether it was possible to transpose the terms of the American Buy Act, which aims to give priority to American economic operators in the European Union, particularly in the space sector.
Here, the senior official assured that Europe's openness ensures its competitiveness. Mr Delsaux added that Galileo had implemented a kind of “European preference” and rejected the participation of operators from non-Member States because of the space programme’s security and defence activities. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)