Council resolution of 13 May 2003 on "the development of an overall European space policy"
Date: 2003-05-13
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU policy, space policy, space research, space technology

C 149/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

26.6.2003

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 13 May 2003

on ‘the development of an overall European space policy’

(2003/C 149/05)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

1. RECALLING its conclusions of 10 December 2001;

2. WELCOMING the ongoing negotiations with a view to the conclusion of a framework agreement

between the European Community and the European Space Agency;

3. NOTING the work of the Convention regarding research, technological development and space;

4. WELCOMES the Green Paper of the European Commission, prepared in cooperation with ESA, and the
ongoing consultation process launched in order to take into consideration the different positions of
Member States and aiming at further developing an overall European space policy; NOTES the
contributions already made by a significant cross-section of European actors and citizens to the
ongoing Green Paper consultation; EMPHASIZES the need to address critical questions raised in this
document as well as user aspects, so as to promote the long-term interests of the Union;

5. UNDERLINES the continuously increasing importance of cost-effective and affordable space tech-

nologies for the European citizens, contributing, inter alia, to:

— the increasing competitiveness of European enterprises by providing them with new opportunities,

— an emerging knowledge society,

— the implementation of a wide range of European policies, as well as the relevance of space
including the

the further development of European policies,

technologies in the context of
Common Foreign and Security Policy;

6. EMPHASISES the urgency of concrete action at European level, especially against the background of the
critical situation in the European space sector, mainly in the launch services and the commercial
satellite markets, and with a view to meeting critical milestones, in particular with regard to the
Galileo project and the restructuring of the European launch sector;

7. STRESSES the need for concluding the framework agreement between the Community and ESA, as
soon as possible and no later than the end of 2003, in view of the White Paper, as a step towards the
further development of an overall European space policy;

8. WELCOMES the Commission's intention to submit to the Council and European Parliament, in coop-
eration with ESA, a White Paper on space, setting out the objectives and containing proposals for
required actions for a European space policy, with a view to a possible European Space Programme;

9. UNDERLINES the importance of international cooperation in space, bearing also in mind the emergence
of several new space powers, and invites the Commission, in cooperation with ESA, to step up its
efforts to promote co-operation in this field and notes the Commission's intention to organise an
international conference;

10. REITERATES that a joint meeting of the Council of the European Union and of the Council of the
European Space Agency at ministerial level could provide additional new momentum to the joint
efforts to develop a European space policy, and considers that the second half of 2003 could be an
appropriate time for such a meeting.