Matthias Petschke, Director of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Industry and Defence (DG Defis), spoke about the European Commission’s thinking on space traffic management (STM) during a debate with MEPs from the Industry Committee (ITRE) on Monday 31 May.
Responding to Christophe Grudler (Renew Europe, France) and Mikuláš Peksa (Greens/EFA, Czech Republic), the senior official insisted that the EU had to be “credible” in the eyes of its allies, developing “interoperable capabilities” while developing a system that would work “independently” of third countries.
“Europe cannot be dependent on third parties for the protection of its critical infrastructure or in the definition of standards”, insisted Mr Petschke, echoing the arguments of Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Market (see EUROPE 12730/10).
He said that the EU SST consortium was currently playing a key role in collision avoidance strategies for more than 200 European satellites already and, “tomorrow, its services may be offered to non-European satellite operators”.
Among the actions planned are the creation of a European catalogue of space objects, the adaptation of public procurement and the creation of synergies with the defence angle, said Mr Petschke, adding that the European Defence Fund would finance “relevant” aims.
The European Commission is expected to present a roadmap on European STM in 2022.
For his part, the director of the European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen) Sorin Ducaru, told MEPs that he wanted to go further in cooperating with the Commission, but insisted on the importance of cooperating with the US. Replying to Massimiliano Salini (EPP, Italy), he highlighted that the Commission’s views were always taken into account in the SatCen decision-making process.
FFPA. On the same day, the European Commission reported in camera on the negotiations on the Financial Framework Partnership Agreement (FFPA), welcoming a “balanced agreement” and simplified governance, notably for the European Galileo programme (see EUROPE 12706/5).
The signing of the FFPA is scheduled for 22 June. MEPs gave a warm welcome to the announcement after months of difficult negotiations. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)