|
Europe did not wait for the EU to develop
its presence in space, thanks to ambitious national policies and
the European Space Agency (ESA). Why do we now need to change this
approach?
Achilleas Mitsos: Thanks to ESA and the 'pragmatic' approach
adopted, Europe has become a major player in space, alongside the
United States, Russia and Japan. Ariane, which is the symbol of
its know-how, holds 50% of the commercial launching market. A new
and encouraging fact is that last year the European space industry
won more than half of all satellite calls for tender. ESA is also
a key partner in major international scientific programmes.
With particularly efficient investments
- less than one-sixth of the US space budget - Europe has acquired
scientific, technological and industrial skills which rank among
the best in the world.
Today, space applications are impacting on all our everyday lives,
through satellite broadcasts, television, meteorology, cartography
and Earth observation. Space is providing management tools which
are proving increasingly essential for many EU policies, such as
telecommunications, agriculture, the environment, transport, and
soon for its new common security and defence responsibilities, too.
Space is now a strategic field, one which requires a coherent, global
approach, particularly to safeguard European autonomy.
How does this new European policy area fit
in with the idea of subsidiarity?
The EU's role is first to support the initiatives
of the sectoral players, both public and private. This support will
help achieve the two objectives which have been central to the European
space effort to date, namely to develop the technological and industrial
base in order to permit independent economic exploitation of applications
and, at the same time, to include a very high-level scientific component
which contributes to the understanding of our planetary system and
space exploration.
The Union will provide a common reference framework
for these players to ensure that space infrastructure, and successful
services derived from this, continue to be available. It is a question
of integrating space science better in the European research effort,
and of creating the appropriate political and regulatory conditions
for developing the sector and commercial markets.
A third objective is now aimed at fully integrating
the space tool in the implementation of European policies. Two key
projects are under way in this field: Galileo for satellite navigation
- particularly essential to the transport sector - and the GMES
concept for monitoring the global environment and for security.
These two projects implement a space component
and a terrestrial component in line with the specifications drawn
up by the users. They contribute to European policies and to the
development of industrial capabilities.
How should we understand the planned partnership
between the Commission and ESA? Is the European Space Agency going
to become the agency for implementing EU programmes and, ultimately,
the European Union Space Agency?
The Commission and the ESA executive have been
given the go-ahead to define the terms of a partnership between
the Commission and the European Space Agency by the end of 2001,
so that, among other things, ESA can pursue its mission as an intergovernmental
agency while at the same time acting as the Union's space agency
in accordance with the regulations. So, in a sense, ESA can be seen
as complementing its two current 'pillars' - the scientific and
optional programmes, which essentially amount to increased cooperation
- with a third aspect, that of Community programmes.
Representatives of the Member States will sit on the Joint Strategic
Space Advisory Group (JSSAG), a genuine forum where European space
policy will be proposed and discussed.
Space is a mixed sector, with a public political
strategy on the one hand and major industrial interests on the other.
How can this duality be integrated?
By setting up major aerospace companies, European
industry is consolidating, in particular to meet the challenge of
the US industrial giants. This effort continues to require a key
support role on the part of the public authorities, and thus a very
special kind of political accompaniment.
The EU is proposing a formula of mixed partnerships
so that the public sector and the entire industrial chain of manufacturers
and users can come together in operational projects. Private investment
will mobilise as space projects offer profit opportunities. But
these partnerships go beyond financial commitments. They concern
the implementation of economic, political and regulatory frameworks
making it easier for industrial and financial partners to make a
profit on their investments.
In this respect, Galileo is a first for Europe.
Similar structures are also possible in the case of the GMES, for
information systems and services based on satellite observation.
Space applications have another dual aspect
as they are very important to defence and security needs, in particular
in the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
Is this dimension being taken into account?
Most certainly. The joint task force has a precise
mandate in this respect.
As civil projects under civil control, Galileo
and particularly GMES are contributing to a strategy where not only
do transport and environment policies meet but also the CFSP, in
particular in the transfer of the so-called Petersberg (1)
operations from the WEU to the European Union. The proposed integration
of the WEU satellite centre into the Union should facilitate implementation
of the GMES project.
How are European research programmes
going to include the EU's objectives in the space sector?
The Commission wants to step up its action
in this field and has adopted aeronautics and space as one of the
seven priority themes of the new Framework Programme now being prepared.
Space strategy is a very concrete field of application for the concept
of the European Research Area which now inspires the Union's entire
science and technology policy. The aim is to cooperate with all
the players - and primarily ESA - in determining the main thrust
of a European space policy which is fully accepted and supported
by all the Member States. The role of Union programmes is to encourage
the structuring and coherence of this common strategy.
(back to text)
|
