Mr President, I would like to thank Mrs de Palacio for her speech this Monday night at the beginning of the Parliamentary session on a matter that is highly topical, since, in fact, our speeches are not so much addressed to Commissioner Busquin or to Mrs de Palacio herself as to the ministerial meeting of the European Space Agency, which is due to take place in a few days’ time. We have high expectations of its outcome. I think it is worth saying that this is a topical initiative. It is not intended to replace reports or the debate on the Green Paper, or the Galileo debate. It has simply become clear at various meetings that this is a critical time for the European space sector – perhaps more critical than we realise – due to the problems of Arianespace, which affect not only launchers but the entire satellite industry as well. A question mark is therefore now hanging over the skills and expertise we have acquired, which are extremely valuable at a time when new space powers are emerging all over the world, at a time when we can see that the market studies carried out in the 1990s are no longer being acted on, in particular in the field of satellite constellations. We therefore need to examine the question of what Europe is doing, given that this is a European project. Of course, the French are particularly concerned, since they instigated the conquest of space a few years ago, but, today, it is no longer possible for one isolated country to maintain its space capacity at world level. Today, therefore, I am not speaking as a Frenchman, Commissioner, but as a European who would like us to consider Airbus and what that remarkable achievement involved. We should make that clear to those who might say that if the European space sector does not measure up they will buy elsewhere. We could also have purchased planes elsewhere. Sadly, however, this would compromise European skills, technology and expertise, and, in particular, civil applications in all fields, including medicine, information technology and aeronautics. This is therefore a strategic project, not just in the military sense, but also quite simply in terms of what is Europe’s most valuable asset, in other words its technological progress. As far as you can, we would like you to convey to the Member States, who are also members of the ESA, our desire to see an emergency plan implemented to restructure the launcher sector, and also our desire to see the Galileo crisis resolved. You have certainly done more than your duty in this field. For the first time, Europe is sending out a strong signal, it possesses a space programme, and we know that programmes are essential, but we can see that the ESA is suffering one crisis after another. Commissioner, we believe it is very important, on the one hand, to succeed in overcoming this crisis at the next ministerial meeting of the ESA, and, on the other, if we do not succeed, to ask the Commission to take matters firmly in hand. I know this is difficult, I know that Germany and France in particular are not necessarily cooperative with regard to establishing an executive director. I would like to see an end to minor skirmishes in this field. What we are asking, however, is that the Commission compensate for the failings of the ESA, if failings it must have. Lastly, we would like to send a message to the Convention on the future of the Union, calling for space to be an area of shared competence in future, since, once again, we believe this would be in keeping with its strategic nature.

Political group: PSE