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“Time is of the essence” to quickly develop a European space policy that relies much more heavily on European-made equipment and services in order to boost the continent’s security and competitiveness, French and German space ministers said on Tuesday.
“The world is changing very fast,” Philipe Baptiste, France’s minister for higher education, research and space said at the European Space Conference in a discussion moderated by Euronews’ Alice Tidey.
“What used to be our first strong ally is now very predictable, and this has the most consequences,” he added, referring to the United States, which earlier this month threatened several European countries with additional tariffs in a bid to force the acquisition of Greenland – a move that cast doubt over the future of the NATO alliance.
“This has an impact on all our defence and security programmes and of course space is part of that. So this means that, in practice, we do have to change the way we see space and this ranges from reaching space – so we need launchers – but also to satellites and to the defence security programme that we have in space,” he added.
European money for European industry
Since the turn of the decade, the EU has been looking to boost coordination for space assets and services after falling behind the US and China. The war in Ukraine has also thrown into relief the crucial role space plays in defence – and the fact that it is increasingly becoming a theatre of conflict.
The Commission’s Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030 designated strategic enablers, which include space assets, as a priority area for investments alongside ammunition, air defence, and drones.
The goal is for member states to have the capabilities they need to defend themselves against a possible Russian attack come 2030.
The EU’s executive has also pitched a European Space Shield amongst its four defence flagship projects – although not much is currently known about what it would entail.
Baptiste said that when it comes to space and defence, the EU should implement a “100% European preference”.
France has already championed a European preference in defence, with access to funds from the EU’s loan for defence scheme and the European Defence Industry Programme already predicated on the majority of the value of any given system being bought coming from European manufacturers.
“How can we imagine that we would use European money only to buy and to develop from foreign partners? That’s not what we should do. What we should do is use our European money to develop the European industry,” Baptiste said.
Buying European assets and sending them to space with European companies, he added, would ensure no third country can block the launch of rockets or operate a so-called “kill switch”, allowing them to prevent the use of a certain system having produced some of its components.
But none of this is possible unless all 27 EU member states coalesce around a common space policy, he warned.
Asked about the slow pace of European integration so far, Baptiste argued: “We are improving and we are learning very fast, and we have to be very thankful to the President of the United States who helps us every day on this topic.”
“I do think that the European Union should be leading the political future of space in terms of vision, in terms of programmes that should be developed,” he added.
Dorothee Bär, the German minister for space, similarly called for an acceleration in building a joint space policy.
“We can all see what is happening in the world, so waiting is not an option,” she told the European Conference in a keynote speech. “Time is of the essence.”
Germany has said it will invest _€_35 billion in military space capabilities before 2030, and is also the largest single contributor to the European Space Agency.
“It also makes sense that everything that comes from Europe in the space sector, everything contributed by each country and by every individual actor should interlock,” Bär said, calling for interoperability among EU space assets and systems.
“We are currently experiencing an epochal shift. Our way of life is under pressure, as is our freedom and our security. So we all have to do more. That means standing up for our convictions, advocating for a safe, sustainable, and peaceful use of space.”
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