Seven candidates have reportedly stepped forward to succeed Germany’s Jan Wörner, whose term as head of the European Space Agency (ESA) ends in mid-2021, according to a new brief published by the Space Intel Report website on Monday, 7 September.
In addition to the two officially declared candidates, the current Spanish Minister for Science and Innovation, Pedro Duque, and the Belgian Eric Morel de Westgaver (special adviser to Mr Wörner) are reported to have put their names forward: - the Austrian Josef Aschbacher, Director of Earth Observation at ESA, who, at the last Ministerial Council meeting (see EUROPE 12379/2), achieved a great success with the Copernicus budget; - Simonetta Di Pippo of Italy, head of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA); - French candidate Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of the Centre national d’études spatiales ; - Chiara Manfletti, former Special Adviser to Mr Wörner and head of the Portuguese Space Agency ; - German candidate Claudia Kessler, head of the Astronautin company, promoting gender equality in space.
The former Luxembourg Minister, Etienne Schneider, known for his commitment to the space sector, has not in the end expressed an interest in the post, contrary to what had been anticipated at one time (see EUROPE 12511/14).
In its brief, Space Intel Report reports that a potential British candidate was rejected out of hand, despite the fact that the United Kingdom is the fourth largest contributor to the Agency, in order to avoid tension with the European Commission, which remains ESA’s foremost customer in the institutional sector. Negotiations on the EU space programme are currently making difficult progress, as they are stumbling over the thorny issue of the participation of third country entities (see EUROPE 12548/8).
The selection process, which is conducted entirely behind closed doors, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)