21/12/2020 (Agence Europe) – Member States’ Ambassadors to the EU unanimously approved on Friday 18 December the Interinstitutional Agreement on the Regulation establishing the EU Space Programme. It is now the European Parliament’s turn to approve and adopt the agreement at second reading, which is likely to take place in January or even February 2021. Parliament and the EU Council reached an agreement in mid-December which clarifies and strengthens the framework for the participation of non-Member States in the programme as well as the Commission’s role in the control of participating entities. Finally, the agreement certainly links the regulation to the duration of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework without having addressed the maximalist position of the German EU Council Presidency (see EUROPE 12624/21). (PH)