The provisional agreement reached ten days ago on the framework agreement between the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) contains new mechanisms for cooperation between the two institutions and the future EU Agency for the European Space Programme (EUSPA), according to a note seen by EUROPE on Monday 26 April.
In particular, the various parties agreed to create a joint Galileo and EGNOS programme office located within the European Commission and integrated ESA and EUSPA teams located at the different sites for the implementation of the planned tasks.
The FFPA will implement governance as defined in the EU Space Regulation (see EUROPE 12606/6). The thorny issue of sub-delegation for Galileo/EGNOS has thus been resolved, with EUSPA having the lead on operation and ESA on design.
The note states that the FFPA safeguards the essential interests of the European Union - a subject of heated debate on the space programme (see EUROPE 12624/21) - by including safeguards on the protection of intellectual property and the prohibition of access to information on strategic programmes with third countries.
The FFPA will also enable the EU and ESA to achieve programmatic priorities considered as “major” including: - accelerating the modernisation of the Galileo constellation, a first deployment by the end of 2024; - the preparation for launch of a new space constellation in support of the ‘Secure Connectivity’ initiative, a favourite of Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton (see EUROPE 12634/9); - contributing to the ‘European Green Deal’ agenda (in particular with regard to the measurement of CO2 emissions) through the deployment of new Copernicus missions; - finally, the creation of a Space Investment Fund with a budget of one billion euros.
The FFPA also sets 2024 as the date for the full operational capability of the Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS) to provide secure government applications. The FFPA also ensures that the contracting authority for Galileo/EGNOS is on the EU side, namely the Commission until the contract is awarded, after which it will be up to EUSPA to implement the contract.
The text still needs to be approved by the respective ESA and EU Member States. A public communication by the European Commission could take place in June. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)