At the end of a two-day hybrid meeting (face-to-face and remote) of its 22 national delegations on Wednesday 24 June, the European Space Agency (ESA) adopted a resolution to set up a Council Working Group to prepare the meeting of the ESA Council and the EU Council scheduled by the German Presidency of the EU Council for November.
“It was finalised to have a special working group (composed of two members per delegation - Editor's note) to set up all these things. Until then, we will have an intermediate ministerial meeting in Lisbon at the end of July (...), then we will have the Space Council in November 2020, where we will have the German Presidency of the EU and the ESA co-presidency of Portugal and France”, said the Director General Jan Wörner during a press briefing on Thursday 25 June.
Germany, which is about to take over the rotating Presidency of the EU Council, wants to convene an EU/ESA Space Council on 27 November to discuss a wide range of issues, starting with the EU space programme and the framework partnership agreement between the European Union and ESA (which should be defined in September, signed in December and implemented in January 2021), but also to prepare an initiative to activate the key principles of the global space economy.
According to a document obtained in early June by EUROPE (see EUROPE 12503/12), the initiative would address a wide range of issues, such as a level playing field, restrictions on the extraterritorial application of national regulations, protection of intellectual property rights, cybersecurity, basic European standards for space operations and activities (‘Space Traffic Management’), a framework for conditions regarding investment and financing of space activities and an agreement on the procurement of European launch services for government payloads. The issue of European preference is expected to be addressed.
Questioned by EUROPE on the relevance of this format, which some people in the European ‘bubble’ consider to be cumbersome and not necessarily very fruitful, Mr Wörner challenged these criticisms and assured that the meeting was, on the contrary, “the best body” to coordinate the two major players in space - the Agency he heads and the European Union (whose role in the space sector has been strengthened by the Lisbon Treaty) - as well as the EU and ESA Member States, particularly at the start of a new European budgetary cycle.
The budgetary issue of EU space policy is very important, Mr Wörner reiterated, also because ESA has “a link” with this budget (about 23% of ESA's budget comes from the EU and 20% of the Agency's staff is funded by European programmes (see EUROPE 12420/5), in particular with the European programmes Copernicus, Galileo, GovSatCom and the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme.
Lunar Gateway
Delegations also discussed and approved a Memorandum of Understanding with NASA (the US space agency) on cooperation on the ‘Lunar Gateway’, a project for a mini-space station in lunar orbit. “We are just a few steps away from sending Europeans to the Moon”, the Director General said.
Another Memorandum with NASA has been approved concerning the flight elements of the Mars Sample Return Campaign, a first.
New Executive Director
The ESA Council also started the procedure for the recruitment of a new Director General, with a view to replacing Mr Wörner, who will end his term of office on 30 June 2021. Once the announcement is published on the website and via social networks, the call for nominations will be open for 2 months. Several names are on everyone's lips: the Luxembourger Étienne Schneider, the Spaniard Pedro Duque, or the Austrian Josef Aschbacher (see EUROPE 12511/14).
Coronavirus
In addition, the ESA Council took a decision to adapt the decision-making process to facilitate deliberations and work during the pandemic crisis related to the Sars CoV-2 virus. The health situation in French Guiana, where the Ariane and Vega rockets in particular are being launched, is a matter of great concern. Mr Wörner said that until further notice only staff who have to perform a specific task will be sent there. “Observers will not be sent”. The pandemic slowed down the construction of the launch pad planned for Ariane 6, whose first launch was scheduled for 2020 and which has been postponed to 2021. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)