On Tuesday 13 May, the Director General of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, expressed his hope that the new EU ‘Space Act’, which could be presented on 25 June, will not complicate the work of the space sector.
In January, European Commissioner Andrius Kubilius announced that the Commission would be proposing such legislation, which he said would create a single market in space and set high standards for safety, security and sustainability.
Although he repeated that he had very good cooperation with Mr Kubilius and his team, Mr Aschbacher had not seen the ‘Space Act’ and was not consulted on its drafting. “This new text should strengthen the space sector at European level. We need to strengthen the sector, so that the industry is in a better position to compete with the big players”, he explained at a hearing in the European Parliament. Earlier in the day, he had told Agence Europe that he hoped this legislation would make “space more efficient and not more complex, because there is a risk that stricter regulations will make work more complex”.
In his view, it is essential to ensure that when it comes to standardisation, there is a “single process, not two or three”. “Otherwise, we will be imposing a burden on our industry, which I am sure the Commission does not want”, he added. The managing director pointed out the need for coordination and consistency between this legislation at European level and existing national laws in around ten EU Member States.
Mr Aschbacher also promised that he would ensure that the roles of the various space players were clearly described and respected, explaining that the European Space Agency should be referred to as the implementing agency for all EU space programmes.
Asked about the possible reduction in NASA’s budget (see EUROPE 13634/22), the Director-General called for speculation to be avoided and reiterated that the US decisions would be taken over the coming month. “We work with the US on many projects, and any impact on the US budget will have an impact on us”, particularly on exploration, he acknowledged, adding that if anything changed, one would certainly have to adapt accordingly. However, he pointed out that around 90-95% of the activities carried out with ESA Member States are stand-alone projects, such as Copernicus, Galileo or Euclid.
Whatever decisions taken in the United States, the Europeans need to optimise the use of their current and future investments, according to Mr Aschbacher. He added that, generally speaking, Europe needs to strengthen its autonomy and independence in terms of technological developments.
Reinforcing the ESA budget and space spending. With the agency’s new three-year budget due to be decided at the ministerial meeting in Bremen in November, the Director General once again called for a “significant” increase (see EUROPE 13567/18). He said he was preparing a budget proposal of more than €20 billion over three years. The budget for 2023-2025 is €16.9 billion.
“Europe is recognised as a centre of excellence, but it is small in terms of funding and it is fragile”, Mr Aschbacher stressed, adding that care must be taken not to lose industries or talent.
“Space is a strategically and economically important area. The space economy is worth around €500 billion, and is expected to grow to €1.8 trillion over the next decade. Extrapolating, that’s around 10% growth per year”, he explained. And while space is “already a key element in our economy”, it is also “increasingly a strategic asset”, as it is more and more crucial for security and defence, he added.
“Today, there is a space budget of around €100 billion worldwide, 60% of which is spent in the USA, 15% in China and 10% in Europe”, he explained, adding that 50% of the space budget in the USA, Japan, China and India was spent on defence, compared with 15% in Europe. But the situation is changing. In March, according to Mr Aschbacher, “many” ESA Member States asked him to propose a new programme called ‘ERS’ (‘European resilience for space programme’), developed in collaboration with the European Commission, with a view to its adoption at the November ministerial meeting. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)