The Assises du NewSpace collective, a group of players in the French space sector, insists on the need to give priority to projects with “strong national and European territorial roots”, in a report published on Tuesday 25 October on the occasion of the opening of the European Space Forum 2022 edition.
Thus, the collective insists on the fight against the “opportunism” of certain companies, noting that “the share of development and supply in France and Europe remains unrestricted in the support programmes”.
Therefore, the document’s signatories ask for better control of the commitments concerning the development on the French and European territory, as well as the supply. In doing so, they suggest penalties in an aid mechanism or taxes on services provided that do not respect this principle.
Faced with increasingly tough international competition, the collective is calling for more support from national and European public authorities, notably through a sovereign wealth fund linked to the EU’s Cassini initiative; a proposal reminiscent of that made by the Commissioner for the Internal Market in a recent plea for a future European Sovereignty Fund (see EUROPE 13035/26). The aim is to create future “unicorns” (cutting-edge start-ups in the sector) and to “prevent them from moving abroad, particularly to the USA”. The matter of European preference is a well-worn issue in space policy (see EUROPE 10474/14).
To read the collective’s proposals: https://aeur.eu/f/3sp (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)