On Wednesday 11 November, the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU adopted EU Council conclusions on guidelines for the European contribution establishing key principles for the global space economy in preparation for the EU/ESA videoconference on 20 November.
These conclusions, which remain very close to the draft that Europe had published (see EUROPE 12592/21), emphasise that the European space sector “goes beyond” publicly funded programmes, “as it is increasingly focused on commercial activities”.
Furthermore, the conclusions underline the need to support entrepreneurship in the space sector by facilitating access to different forms of financing, particularly for start-ups and scale-ups.
Furthermore, the conclusions underline the complementary roles of the ESA and the EU in the space field and recall the role of public support measures in the context of the coronavirus crisis in “revitalising” the space industry. They highlight the need to use European launch services, citing the future Ariane 6 and Vega-C launchers (see EUROPE 12592/34).
The conclusions mention the existence of numerous initiatives in the field of Space Traffic Management and, in this context, highlight the importance of having a “coordinated” approach.
Thus, the conclusions call for a European dialogue on the subject, involving both the academic and industrial worlds, with a mapping exercise of existing regulatory frameworks in Europe to be discussed at an ad hoc European conference on the subject.
The videoconference on Space will be held on Friday 20 November and will take place in camera. The meeting is expected to proceed as follows: first, the Union will hold a meeting in the ‘Competitiveness’ Council framework, and then the ESA will hold its ministerial meeting. Finally, the EU and the ESA will hold a joint meeting. As a reminder, the ESA and the EU do not have the same Member States, and the ESA is an intergovernmental organisation.
To view the conclusions: https://bit.ly/38AUizr (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)