Brussels, 26/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is preparing to adopt a communication on the extremely unambitious space policy. The EU's space ambitions, supported in the previous Commission by Philippe Busquin, had benefited from the progress made in cooperation between the Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA), as well as from the introduction of a new legal base in the draft constitutional treaty. In this context, the White Paper of November 2003 gave fresh impetus. Rejection of the constitutional treaty, however, and the fact that member states have fallen back on a more selfish national approach, have gradually eroded European space policy. Currently in interservice consultation, the text drafted by the ESA and member states in the context of the high level group on space is due to be approved on 21 April. It will be examined by the ESA Council mid-March before being submitted to the Space Council on 21 and 22 May.
The initial text prepared by the services under Commissioner Günter Verheugen kept to the ambition of gradually bringing Community space activity closer to that of the ESA. This ambition is shared by Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General, who greatly contributed to developing cooperation with the Commission in the declared aim of transforming the ESA into an EU agency in time. This was without taking into account the member states that, given rejection of the constitutional treaty, preferred to defer such a development indefinitely. Although the partnership continued to enjoy the support of Belgium, France, Switzerland and Norway, it came up against opposition from Germany, the United Kingdom and Austria. Another major ambition aimed at introducing Community rules of operation into the space sector. Such rules would have led to the abandonment of the system of fair returns, which has a truly anti-competitive nature. Except for France, all countries defended this system that allows industrial and technological capacities to be artificially maintained. While at it, they also rejected another very French idea, that of “European preference”, generally challenged in all sectors by supporters of a wider transatlantic market.
The space policy project, which comprises an annex on a space programme that brings together ESA and EU activities, recognises the importance of space for other EU policies, such as security, including environmentally-related aspects, health and energy. The main actions envisaged by the document are: (1) launching new R&D projects on the integration of space and ground systems by end 2008; (2) continued construction of the European satellite navigation system, Galileo (see related article on delays); (3) the launch, in 2008, of the first three GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) services on marine services, emergency response and land monitoring, with France, Italy and Germany as the respective project leaders; ESA will have to discuss the future infrastructure of GMES, which could face a problem of continuity of services from 2015, when the current generation of satellites will be no more; ESA is also due to begin work on the third generation of Meteosat in 2008; (4) the 7th Community R&D framework programme will fund the development of network and satellite communication services and their interoperability with terrestrial networks; ESA will invest in technology improvement; (5) the various security and defence players are called on to set up a mechanism for exchanging information and coordinating programmes; the Council is called on to determine the specifications for GMES security services before the end of this year; (6) the continued use of the international space station; (7) the preparation by ESA of technologies and scenarios for the next generation of launchers. The text concludes with a call for an in-depth discussion in the Space Council before the end of 2008 on how EU-ESA relations could develop. (oj)