France, a major player in European space policy

The genesis of the European Space Programme

The signing in November 2003 of the EU-ESA Framework Agreement governing cooperation between the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) and the publication by the European Commission of the white paper entitled “Space: a new European frontier for an expanding Union - An action plan for implementing the European Space policy” laid the groundwork for a future European space policy.

The signing of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007 was another milestone for the institutional organization of the space sector at European level. It placed space under the shared responsibility of the European Union and its Member States (Art. 4 of the TEU). The treaty sets out (Art 172a) that the European Union may “promote joint initiatives, support research and technological development and coordinate the efforts needed for the exploration and exploitation of space.” Within this framework, the European Parliament and the Council may establish the necessary measures, which may take the form of a European space programme, “excluding any harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member States”.

Based on the provisions of Article 189, on 16 September 2010 the European Council amended the list of Council configurations to add “space” to the three areas – “internal market, industry and research” – covered by the Competitiveness Council. As a result, it is now the responsibility of the Council’s Working Party on Space, established following the European Council’s decision, to prepare the Council’s work on space (rather than the EU-ESA HSPG).

In April 2021, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU established a renewed space programme by adopting regulation 2021/696.

European Space Agency: technical cooperation and strategic framework

The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs takes part in the work of ministerial forums responsible for drawing up France’s position in relation to EU space policy and participates within French delegations in the various bodies dealing with these issues, including within the framework of the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA), which now has 23 Member States.

The ESA’s Ministerial Council is the organization’s governing body. Each Member State has one vote.

In principle, the Council convenes every three to four years to bring together the Ministers responsible for space affairs from each Member State in order to set the Agency’s strategic guidelines and its three-year budget. France is represented by the Foreign Ministry and the French Space Agency (CNES).

A historic budget

The 2025 Ministerial Council announced a historic overall budget of €22.1 billion to finance European space programmes for the 2026-2028 period. The main contributors are Germany (€5.1 billion), France (€3.7 billion) and Italy (€3.5 billion).

These contributions are intended for programmes covering the areas of autonomous access to space (financing of European launchers Ariane 6 and Vega C, microlaunchers, maintaining Guiana Space Centre), space exploration (Enceladus mission, mission to Saturn) and applications (particularly Earth observation with Copernicus and space telecommunications). The Ministerial Council 2025 also approved the European Resilience from Space initiative which aims to step up Europe’s security and resilience.

The European Union, meanwhile, through the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), has allocated €14.8 billion to the EU space policy for the 2021-2027 period. The financing of space activities for the 2028-2034 period will soon be reallocated. As part of the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) in particular, new financing should be allocated to space.

The EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)

In addition to the ESA’s technical expertise, in 2021 the European Union set up a specific space agency: the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA). EUSPA is responsible for certain flagship EU programmes such as Ariane, Galileo, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) aimed at improving the performance of global positioning systems for critical transport services, and Copernicus (see below).

In addition to the ESA’s technical expertise, in 2021 the European Union set up a specific space agency: the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA). EUSPA is responsible for certain flagship EU programmes such as Ariane, Galileo, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) aimed at improving the performance of global positioning systems for critical transport services, and Copernicus (see below).

Ariane

The Ariane programme was launched in 1973 by 11 European countries. Since then, there have been six generations of launch vehicles, with the latest, Ariane 6, launched in July 2024. With Vega-C, Ariane 6 is the latest generation of European launch vehicles, which are critical to European space sovereignty capabilities.

Galileo

Launched in 1999 by the European Union to provide Europe with an independent positioning and timing system with global coverage, that is compatible and interoperable with existing systems (USA’s GPS, Russia’s GLONASS and China’s BeiDou), Galileo began offering users a number of “initial services” in December 2016 for civilian and military use.

In 2021, the European Commission approved Europe’s strategic independence in terms of global positioning, navigation and space synchronization. To date, 34 operational satellites from the Galileo constellation have been launched from Guiana Space Centre by the Soyouz and Ariane 5 launch vehicles (2017-2021), Falcon 9 (2024) and Ariane 6 (2025). The final 6 first-generation satellites are set for 2027.

Copernicus

Copernicus, previously known as Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), is an Earth observation initiative launched in 1998. It aims to set up six thematic services linked to environmental information: land monitoring, marine environment monitoring, atmosphere monitoring, climate change, emergency management and security. Since September 2008, five of these services are in the pre-operational phase. In addition to these services, Copernicus has a space component (the Sentinel satellites) and an in-situ component.

The Copernicus initiative is being implemented by the European Commission in partnership with the ESA. Its operational phase began in 2014. With the first SENTINEL-1A satellite launched in April 2014, the programme is founded on around ten satellites spread over several missions and providing different types of service. The constellation should have about 30 satellites by 2039. For the 2021-2022 period, Copernicus had a budget of about €5.8 billion, funded via the EU Space Programme.

IRIS² and GOVSATCOM

In March 2023, the European Union launched the IRIS² programme (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite). The IRIS² constellation will be Europe’s first multi-orbit satellite system. The constellation, which will ultimately include about 270 satellites, should be complete by 2030. The programme will provide secure, sovereign connectivity for Europe. This project has received €2.4 billion in funding from the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). New funding will be provided under the 2028-2034 MFF. The ESA Ministerial Council 2025 also allocated funds to IRIS².

The IRIS² programme is associated with the existing GOVSATCOM programme. GOVSATCOM provides secure connectivity to EU governments by using the capabilities of operators and Member States.