Although the Member States of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union (EU) displayed a common vision of Europe’s role in the space sector in the medium term on Friday 20 November during a joint informal videoconference, ESA and the European Commission have still not found common ground on the new Framework Financial Partnership Agreement (FFPA).
“A long engagement is often the key to a successful marriage. That’s the phase we are in with the ESA, we have a long engagement. (...) We want to make sure that we solve all the problems in advance for a successful marriage, because we are committed for at least seven years”, said the Commission’s Director-General for Defence Industry and Space Services (DG DEFIS), Pierre Delsaux, in response to a question from EUROPE. He replaced the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton.
Mr Delsaux confirmed that there is “no question of getting rid of the ESA”, which has “expertise that no one else has”. He added that the “very constructive” discussions were aimed at “maintaining European excellence in the space sector”.
“In the word FFPA, P stands for ‘partnership’”, ESA Director-General Jan Wörner stressed. “We are trying to strengthen our partnership, and that covers a lot of topics”, he added, citing the Galileo, Copernicus and GovSatCom programmes. “It’s also about the money, and that’s what we’re talking about right now”.
The European Commission had long wished to announce an agreement on the FFPA at this videoconference, which was originally scheduled to be a Council meeting. But its hopes were dashed by a letter from Mr Wörner to Mr Delsaux, seen by EUROPE, in which he raised a number of points: the role of contractual authority (see EUROPE 12605/15) for Galileo and EGNOS, as well as the questions of sub-delegations and launch services.
Furthermore, the ESA considers that the FFPA should not have a deadline and, according to Mr Wörner, the Commission reportedly did not agree to cover all the costs incumbent on the ESA.
To the press, the French Minister Delegate for the Economy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, representing the ESA’s rotating French co-presidency, took a muted stance alongside the European Commission’s position, indicating that the future EU Space Programme Agency (EUSPA) will play a “crucial” role in the “operational” phase.
The issue was reportedly mentioned by Mr Breton during the videoconference dedicated to Competitiveness and again during the joint meeting, but little by the Member States. Luxembourg reportedly took a position in favour of the ESA.
Some believe that work could resume more smoothly once the ESA has appointed a new Director-General to succeed Jan Wörner. The appointee’s name should be known in December (see EUROPE 12592/33).
Two points of view
During the press conference, France, represented by Mrs Pannier-Runacher, and Germany, represented by Thomas Jarzombek, Minister for Digital Industry and Start-ups, representing the German Presidency of the EU Council, disagreed on financing for launchers.
France stressed the importance of aggregating institutional orders to support European launchers (i.e. Ariane 6 and Vega). The German insisted on the need to open up to all private sector players and start-ups.
Germany also stressed the importance of creating a ‘New Space’ that is not exclusively supported by public aid. On the other hand, the industry and some Member States, including France, point out that private players on the other side of the Atlantic, such as SpaceX, exist only thanks to massive public orders from NASA, the US space agency.
To consult the European Commission’s vision for space governance: https://bit.ly/2ULJYgc
To consult the joint conclusions: https://bit.ly/38AUizr (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)