During the presentation of France’s new space strategy on Wednesday 12 November in Toulouse, French President Emmanuel Macron showcased the European space sector, describing European space as “fragile“.
The president stressed the importance of competitiveness. “We need to push our European champions to be competitive on the global market”, he argued, believing it was necessary to move beyond the mechanism of geographic return in competitive markets. “We will also be competitive if we can ensure the emergence of our start-ups, allow them to grow in the so-called scale-up phase (sic), and develop at European level with the necessary funding”.
Once again, the French president emphasised European preference. “If we want a high-performing and growing industrial ecosystem, we must start by dedicating the entire institutional market to it, without exception. This may seem obvious, but it isn’t, and it’s been widely questioned in recent years”, he warned. In his view, Europe must play a role in consolidating demand and embrace this European preference.
Finally, Emmanuel Macron insisted on governance. “In order to define a vision and unite the Member States and the many players involved, the European Union needs to assume its role and steer space policy while drawing on the technical resources and expertise that exist elsewhere. (...) Our ability to succeed with new joint programmes is at stake”, he explained, citing Iris². “We have to make this project a success, and to do that, we have to simplify it, we have to accelerate it to provide the necessary connectivity services to all of Europe before the end of the decade, and we have to devise intermediate steps to get there”, said Mr Macron.
The president also announced that he had asked the Centre national d'études spatiales [the French space agency] (CNES) to work closely with its German and Italian counterparts “to jointly develop a shared vision of Europe’s place on the map of global space powers by 2035”, and that an international space summit would be held in Paris next year, possibly in April, according to one source. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)