During an online conference on the European Space Policy on Thursday 17 June, the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament presented a paper on European Space Policy as a tool.
German Niklas Nienass, the creator of the initiative, explained during the conference that the Greens/EFA were the first political group in the European Parliament to draft such a document. He hopes to push other political groups to adopt a position on space policy.
Among the initial demands, the Greens/EFA oppose any use of space for military purposes and ask in this context for strict compliance with the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty. The second point raised was the need to advance European space traffic management on the international scene as well.
Furthermore, the paper calls for a unified European legal framework for all EU space activity, which would be enshrined in international law.
The Greens/EFA Group takes a rather radical position on this. “As a first step, unification at European level is desirable. We dislike the introduction of various national space laws in the EU Member States”, the report reads.
For example, the Greens/EFA point to the organisational structure of the European Space Policy, which is ill-suited to the challenges of the future, and want to see a closer relationship between the EU and the European Space Agency (ESA). “All space matters should be under the competence of the EU, which would allow for a broader and more coordinated European approach”.
However, the Group believes that the responsible European Commissioner should ensure the geographical distribution of expenditure across all Member States, in line with the principle of geographical return which is inherent in the ESA’s intergovernmentalism.
Other notable suggestions include the creation of a European Space Academy, with its own campus, and the creation of an ETS system that would penalise the production of space debris.
To consult the document: https://bit.ly/3gDHnAF (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)