The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has emphasised the need for the European Union to have a constellation of low earth orbit satellites to provide broadband connectivity over the coming years; this notion was part of a speech given on Tuesday 29 September at the forum organised by the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO). An unprecedented stance.
The President is of the opinion that the EU must invest in three areas: - data storage in Europe, supercomputers and quantum computers; - semiconductors and microprocessors (to achieve 20% of global production); - 5G.
“But we should already look beyond 5G. A low earth orbit satellite project could provide high-speed connectivity everywhere in Europe”, the president said, perhaps thinking of American Elon Musk's Starlink constellation, which is expected to include nearly 12,000 low earth orbit telecommunications satellites by mid-2025.
Taking up this stance would be unprecedented for a President of the European Council, said one observer. They have said that if Mr Michel assumes such a position, it is because he has the support of the Member States. The statement is somewhat out of the ordinary, given that the EU telecommunications sector is known to be subject to market rules in its entirety.
In search of synergy
The European Commission opened a referral on Friday 25 September to launch an action plan next year to create synergies between the civil, defence and space industries, something which is in line with the industrial strategy (see EUROPE 12561/8) and as announced in the European Commission's letter of intent to the European Parliament and EU Council (see EUROPE 12561/8).
The objective is to structure the sector around a dual and transversal principle which, according to the experts, would be a research avenue for the financing of space activities following the budget cuts agreed upon at the extraordinary summit in July (see EUROPE 12563/14).
To access the referral: https://bit.ly/3n6apda (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)