On Wednesday 29 June, the Ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper I) adopted by consensus the negotiation mandate of the EU Council on the Regulation on the constellation for secure connectivity.
All Member States welcomed the agreement.
“This unanimity on Connectivity is a very, very good signal. This shows that all the members of the Council have realised the importance of having new telecoms space capabilities of their own in the Union, which was not the case until recently”, said a European source close to the dossier.
There are no changes from the last compromise obtained by EUROPE (see EUROPE 12980/8). The work done in the Working Party on Space has made many changes to make the text more “logical”, according to the explanatory note from the French Presidency of the EU Council.
The general objectives of the proposal have been strengthened, the different phases of the programme's activities have been further detailed, and the issue of frequency use and ownership between the European Commission and the Member States has been clarified, as has the separation between government and commercial services, the modalities of public-private partnerships and the role of the European Space Agency (ESA).
The ‘New Space’, a term that refers to the emergence of new economic operators, mainly start-ups and SMEs, will also play a more important role.
Funding has been made more flexible on the earmarking of activities funded by other programmes. However, the issue of the use of margins has raised reservations among some Nordic delegations and Germany.
A welcome mandate, but room for improvement
The political agreement in principle of the Member States was welcomed by the rapporteur of the text in the European Parliament, Frenchman Christophe Grudler (Renew Europe). The MEP highlighted the important and “very useful” clarifications, notably on the objectives and the link between government and commercial services. However, he indicated that he wanted to strengthen the environmental provisions.
“I intend to strongly reinforce this point in the European Parliament, in order to make this constellation a worldwide example to follow in this environmental field (CO2 impact, management of future debris, fight against light pollution...). This would even be a first for a constellation”, he declared.
Mr Grudler told EUROPE that a first meeting of the rapporteurs was held on Tuesday 28 June, where he saw “a strong convergence of views between the different political groups”, notably on the place of citizens in the new programme. The Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) will vote on the text in October. The aim is to start inter-institutional negotiations under the Czech Presidency of the EU Council.
For his part, Olivier Lemaître, Secretary General of Eurospace, which represents the major industries in the space sector, welcomed the agreement reached and the speed of the negotiations under the French Presidency of the Council. He also considers the Council’s clarifications to be “welcome”.
However, he questioned the reasons for focusing exclusively on SMEs and start-ups when talking about the EU’s innovative and competitive space sector, “when it is the whole sector that is innovative and competitive”.
Above all, he is concerned about the “huge uncertainties” that still surround the budget, as the amount foreseen for GovSatCom in this regulation (€800 million) does not correspond to the amount foreseen in the EU space programme (€442 million).
To consult the compromise: https://aeur.eu/f/2f5 (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)