France and European space policy

A European cooperation 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, the European Space Agency (ESA), which now has 22 Member States, and the EU-ESA High-level Space Policy Group.

At ministerial level, the ESA Council adopts decisions concerning the Agency’s programmes. In Berlin, during its session on 5 and 6 December 2005, it notably adopted a resolution that provided for granting preference to European launchers for ESA missions. In March 2006, France decided, on a national level, to apply this principle to French institutional missions. At the French-Italian summit on 30 November 2007, a French-Italian declaration was also adopted on European preference concerning access to space. Following the debut of the small Vega launcher on 13 February 2012, Europe now has a full range of launch vehicles (heavy-lift with Ariane 6, medium-lift with Soyuz, from the Guiana Space Centre, and small-lift with Vega C).

Le Conseil ministériel de l’ESA de décembre 2014 au Luxembourg a permis de statuer sur les relations entre l’ESA et l’Union européenne, le rôle de l’Europe dans l’exploration scientifique de l’espace et l’avenir des lanceurs européens. Le Conseil ministériel de décembre 2016 à Lucerne (Suisse) a confirmé ces orientations, en actant notamment définitivement les programmes de lanceurs Ariane 6 et Vega C.

The ESA Council Meeting at Ministerial Level in December 2014 in Luxembourg resulted in decisions on the relationship between the ESA and the European Union, the role of Europe in scientific space exploration and the future of European launch vehicles. The ministerial meeting in December 2016 in Lucerne (Switzerland) confirmed these approaches, in particular by definitively approving support for the Ariane 6 and Vega C launcher programmes.

Overview

The signing in November 2003 of the EU-ESA framework agreement 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. These initiatives led to the creation of a joint EU-ESA secretariat, in application of the EU-ESA framework agreement, and the High-level Space Policy Group (HSPG), established in mid-2004.

The entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon 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 provides (Art. 189 of the TFEU) that the European Union may “draw up a European space policy” and “promote joint initiatives, support research and technological development”. Within this framework, the European Parliament and the Council may establish the necessary measures, “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 Research , established following the European Council’s decision, to prepare the Council’s work on space (rather than the EU-ESA HSPG).

In October 2016, the European Commission adopted a Space Strategy for Europe, confirming the EU’s growing role in this area. The document, which laid the foundations for European space action over the coming decades, identifies four strategic priorities: maximizing the socio-economic benefits of space, supporting the competitiveness of the European space industry, ensuring Europe’s strategic autonomy with regard to space, and making Europe a major diplomatic actor on the world stage in the field of space.

Progress under the French Presidency of the Council of the EU

The EU-ESA Space Council, the first session of which took place on 25 November 2004, was established as a joint meeting of the Competitiveness Council and the ESA Council at Ministerial Level. It provided a forum to set out the guidelines for a European space policy. The fourth meeting of the Space Council (in May 2007) saw the adoption of a Resolution on the European Space Policy.

During the fifth meeting of the Space Council (26 September 2008), held under the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a resolution entitled “Taking forward the European Space Policy” was adopted. This resolution underlined that European space policy is based on three pillars: the European Union, the European Space Agency and their Member States. It proposed new initiatives, in particular concerning the contribution of space technologies to the fight against climate change, competitiveness and jobs, and European security.

The conclusions of the Presidency of the European Council meeting on 11 and 12 December 2008 identified “space technology and services derived from it” among the main technologies of the future within the context of the Lisbon Strategy beyond 2010 and to be included in the “European plan for innovation”.

Under the French Presidency of the Council of the EU, major progress was achieved with regard to the contribution of space technology to European defence and security. The Council declaration of 8 December 2008  on strengthening capabilities through the European security and defence policy decided to strengthen space-based information-gathering and intelligence, through the provision of COSMO-SkyMed and Helios 2 satellite images to the European Union Satellite Centre, and the signing of a letter of intent to that effect for SAR-Lupe, the preparation of a new generation of observation satellites (MUSIS programme) and taking account of military requirements in space surveillance.

In addition, on a policy level, a first draft of the Code of Conduct for outer space activities was officially published during the General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting on 8 December 2008. Following a first phase of consultations, the Council of the EU adopted a new draft on 27 September 2010.

Budgetary aspects

During the ESA Council Meeting at Ministerial Level in Lucerne (1 and 2 December 2016), the amount of Member States’ contributions to the Agency’s programmes was set at over €10.3 billion (following the €8 billion allocated in 2014 in Luxembourg). These contributions fund programmes covering fields including autonomous access to space (developing the launcher sector, financing the Guiana Space Centre, preparing for the future), space exploration (continuing the robotic Mars exploration programme, contributing to the operation of the International Space Station), and applications (in particular Earth observation with Copernicus and space-based telecommunications). The following ESA Council meeting at ministerial level was held in Madrid (Spain) in 2019.

Space exploration

Space exploration missions must be developed within a framework of global cooperation. The first international conference on space exploration, the proposal for which was approved at the Fifth Space Council meeting (26 September 2008), was held on 22 and 23 October 2009 in Prague. During the second edition, held on 21 October 2010 under the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union, a decision was made to create a political forum responsible for defining the guidelines of a global exploration programme, identifying scientific objectives and drawing up a skills map. Italy hosted the first meeting of this forum in Lucca on 9 and 10 November 2011. Its second meeting was held in Washington, DC on 9 December 2014 , and the third in Tokyo on 3 March 2018.

The Galileo programme

Launched in 1999 by the European Union to equip Europe with an independent positioning and timing system with global coverage, that is compatible and interoperable with existing systems (American GPS and Russian GLONASS), Galileo began offering users a number of initial services in December 2016, with the plan to add new services until reaching full operational capacity by 2020.

After abandoning the idea of a concessions model, in November 2007 the EU Transport Council defined the conditions for a relaunch of the programme, based on deploying the system with public resources and EU financing.

On an institutional level, Regulation (EC) No 683/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council entrusted the management of European satellite navigation programmes to the European Commission, and the management of security accreditation and the operation of security centres to the European GNSS Agency. Regulation (EU) No 912/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2010 amended Regulation (EC) No 683/2008 to specify the terms under which the European GNSS Agency carries out this task. Regulation (EU) No 1285/2013, repealing Regulation (EC) No 683/2008, was adopted in 2013 with a view to establishing the rules for the implementation and operation of the programme for the 2014-2020 period. The regulation allocated a budget of €7 billion to the programme for this period.

The deployment of two experimental satellites (GIOVE-A and GIOVE-B) in 2005 and 2008 provided the opportunity to test the system’s critical components in orbit. Two initial operational satellites were then launched on 21 October 2011. In addition, EGNOS, a precursor to Galileo with regional coverage, with an important role in the modernization of air traffic management in Europe, was put into operation on 1 October 2009 and certified on 12 July 2010 as an air navigation service provider, in compliance with Single European Sky standards.

To date, 18 operational satellites in the Galileo constellation have been launched by the Soyuz and Ariane 5  launch vehicles from the Guiana Space Centre. The manufacturing of 30 full operational capability (FOC) satellites for the deployment and operational phase was entrusted to the German industrial company OHB.

Procurement for the deployment and operational/FOC phase was based on a call for tenders launched on 1 July 2008 for the following six lots: satellites, launchers, system design and engineering, ground control infrastructure (satellite control), ground mission infrastructure (navigation messages and signals), and operations (two satellite control centres in Germany and Italy).

The Copernicus initiative

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

The European Commission provided €1.2 billion in EU financing for Copernicus for the 2007-2013 period. Additional financing of €107 billion was allocated within the “GMES and its initial operations” (GIO) envelope for 2011-2013. This financing, adopted in Regulation (EU) No 911/2010 of 16 June 2010, constituted the European Union’s first legal basis identifying a specific financing envelope for the GMES. The ESA, for its part, largely financed the development of the Sentinel satellites.

Regulation (EU) No 377/2014 of 3 April 2014, repealing Regulation (EU) No 911/2010, established the Copernicus programme and set out the applicable rules for its implementation. The regulation allocated a budget of €4.3 billion to the programme for the 2014-2020 period.

Ariane : a European success