Paris, 09/06/2008 (Agence Europe) -Better governance of various programmes at Community level, the consolidation of the European space sector and autonomy of access to space are decisions which must be taken if the EU hopes to keep a place for itself at an equivalent level to that of the United States and Russia in space matters, according to the main actors (public and private) of the European aerospace sector, meeting in Paris on Thursday 5 June as part of a colloquium "Space Serving the European Citizens".
Pending the setting in place of the Lisbon Treaty, which makes space into a new Community policy, the French Presidency will present a whole raft of proposals aiming to relaunch the debate on the space sector during its term of office. These will be based around four objectives, which will be presented at the ministerial meeting to be held on 21-22 July in Kourou: -space and climate change. Here, emphasis will be laid on space observation. According to the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, Valérie Pécresse, who attended the meeting, France may propose the creation of a European centre for research into climate change, to exploit all data available on this subject; - space, security and defence. This area will focus on the possible drafting of the Community space monitoring programme. In a recorded message, the French Prime Minister, François Fillon stressed that the (French) law on military programming, to be re-examined in the autumn, will cover the next generation of military observation and telecommunications satellites; - space and exploration of the solar system, involving all areas concerned: science, industry and the socio-political aspects of this exploration; - space and the knowledge-based economy (Lisbon Strategy). The president of the French CNES (National Centre for Space Studies) Yannick D'Escatha stated that all of these subjects are to be debated by the ministers of the ESA (European Space Agency) and of the EU in order to define "how far the EU is prepared to go in these four fields today". Mr D'Escatha also stated that it was necessary to define "the division of the roles between the space nations and the non-space nations" and that better organisation was needed between the actors present in the sector, such as the national governments, the EU, the ESA, the national agencies, European agencies, universities and research institutes, the industrial companies and services and the general public. Mr D'Escarthe listed the priorities of the forthcoming French Presidency on space issues. The concrete decisions may be taken at the ministerial meeting of the ESA, to be held in The Hague on 25 and 26 November, particularly regarding the relaunch of research programmes for the exploration and exploitation of space (particularly flights to Mars, manned flights) and space programmes, such as the modernisation of launchers, technical flights and manned flights aspired to by the industry above all. According to the CEO of EADS Astrium, Alain Charmeau, the autonomy of access to space will be a decisive factor in the competitiveness of the EU and the development of the Community space policy. The Director-General of the ESA, Jean- Jacques Dordain, pleaded "not to link the actors to their financial capacities", but to take account of what they can bring on board in terms of capabilities. "The European Commission has the major role to play, but in order to play this role, it will need a well-adapted budgetary structure", he said, noting that for the time being, Galileo (the satellite radio-navigation program) is defined as a transport programme, whilst GMES (the environmental monitoring programme) is defined as an environment programme. The director of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Giovanni Fabrizio Bignami, started his speech by stating that it was above all important "to improve governance in Europe". He went on to propose a "clear division between the actors in Europe" and the creation of the post of "Commissioner in charge of space issues, with his or her own budget".
The previous day, Wednesday 4 June, in Brussels, the committee on foreign affairs of the European Parliament adopted, by a large majority (43 votes in favour, six votes against) the report by Karl van Wogau (EPP-ED, Germany), which calls for European space projects to be funded by the budget of the Union. (A.By./trans.fl)