On Monday 25 May, a number of European space (or space data) actors, namely the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Environment Agency (EEA), Nereus, Eumetsat, ECMWF, Mercator Ocean International, EMSA, ASD-EUROSPACE, and EARSC, signed a joint letter asking the European Commission and the Council of the EU not to overlook the EU Space Programme within the Roadmap for Recovery.
The letter’s signatories state that the space sector is of the utmost importance to all of Europe’s economic sectors, as it generates between 53 and 62 billion euros and employs around 230,000 people. They point out that the European Galileo (satellite navigation) and Copernicus (earth observation) programmes have enabled the European Union to become a leader in ‘big data’ in the area of space data, thereby guaranteeing the EU’s strategic autonomy and opening up new trade routes across the Arctic.
The signatories therefore expressly call for the original budgetary objective of €16 billion to be retained. It is the case that, during the negotiations on the multiannual financial framework before the Covid-19 crisis, space policy lost out in the negotiations, a matter that had been of great concern to ESA (see EUROPE 12409/8).
To read the joint letter, go to: https://bit.ly/2TJ4YnE (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)