On Monday 21 June, at the opening of the Paris Air Forum in France, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, announced the launch of an “Alliance for Zero Emission Aviation” by the end of the year.
For the Commissioner, this would be a “clear signal” of the European Union’s position and would mark Europe’s determination “to take the lead”. In Mr Breton’s view, this is a “unique” opportunity for the European aeronautics industry to establish a “decisive competitive advantage” as a “first mover” on the world market. He cited two key technologies for achieving the goal of neutrality: electric and hydrogen propulsion. This alliance was announced in the industrial strategy update (see EUROPE 12713/6).
Military aviation. He also indicated that his services intended to put military aeronautical capabilities at the top of the agenda in the first work programme of the European Defence Fund, which should be adopted at the end of the month.
Space. On the space policy side, the Commissioner reiterated his commitment to accelerate the deployment and evolution of Europe’s two flagship programmes - Copernicus and Galileo - and to launch the European Launcher Alliance (see EUROPE 12713/6) “very soon”. It will be a roadmap that will be linked to the establishment of a European space traffic management system.
Mr Breton also stressed the importance of providing the EU with a constellation for multi-orbital space connectivity (see EUROPE 12743/5). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)
*Article modified on 22.06.2021