Council resolution of 26 September 2008 Taking forward the European Space Policy
Date: 2008-09-26
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU Member State, EU programme, European Space Agency, cooperation policy, research and development, space policy

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I

(Resolutions, recommendations and opinions)

RESOLUTIONS

COUNCIL

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 26 September 2008

‘Taking forward the European Space Policy’

(2008/C 268/01)

THE COUNCIL,

HAVING REGARD to the Framework Agreement between the
European Community and the European Space Agency, which
entered into force in May 2004, and to the increasing coopera-
tion between the two parties;

RECALLING the orientations of the ‘Space Council’ meetings of
25 November 2004, 7 June 2005 and 28 November 2005;

REAFFIRMS in this context the importance for Europe to main-
tain an autonomous access to space, a world-class scientific
programme, its leading satellite applications services in opera-
tional meteorology and commercial communications, and a
sustained and innovative technology base;

UNDERLINES the importance to strengthen EC-ESA coordination
of space technology development programmes, in particular on
critical space technologies for European strategic non-depen-
dence;

EMPHASISING the Resolution of the ‘Space Council’ on 22 May
2007 which welcomed and supported the European Space
Policy and established the policy base for space in Europe;

RECALLS the discussions among European ministers in charge of
space at their informal meeting in Kourou, the space port of
Europe, on 21 and 22 July 2008.

NOTING that the Resolution invited the European Commission,
the ESA Director General and the European Union and ESA
Member States, to monitor and evaluate the implementation of
the Framework Agreement,
the policy within the scope of
including the implementation of the key issues defined in the
annexes of the Resolution;

NOTING that the Member States, on the basis of the European
Space Policy Implementation Plan, have identified as priorities
two programmatic areas for action which are the successful
implementation of both Galileo and GMES (Global Monitoring
for Environment and Security), as well as a number of hori-
zontal issues;

I. A VISION FOR EUROPE IN SPACE

RECOGNISING that the European Space Policy established the
vision to strengthen Europe as a world-class space leader
responding to the needs of European policies and objectives, in
terms of applications, services and related infrastructures, contri-
buting to its societal, cultural, economic and scientific influence,
developing its industrial and scientific potential and assuring its
political and technological autonomy in a reasoned, coherent
and realistic manner;

RECOGNISING the significant progress made in these areas as set
out in the joint ESA-EC progress report, and WELCOMING the
progress made in the setting-up of an international relations
strategy for space in Europe;

RECOGNISING that this policy, based on the EU, ESA and their
respective Member States involved in the European Space
Programme, should continue to be implemented and further
developed, maintaining ambitious goals within the capacities
made available for research and operational applications;

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EMPHASISING that all of Europe's space activities contribute to
the goals of, and fully respect the principles set out by, the
United Nations' ‘Outer Space Treaty’, in particular:

as setting-up the mechanisms to improve synergies between
civil and defence space programmes, while respecting the
specific requirements of both sectors, including their deci-
sion competences and finance schemes,

— the exploration and use of outer space for the benefit and in
the interests of all countries and the recognition of outer
space as a province of all mankind,

— the use of outer space for exclusively peaceful purposes,

— the promotion of international co-operation in the explora-

tion and use of outer space,

— and that Europe supports the on-going efforts of the United
Nations' Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
(COPUOS) on the mitigation and prevention of space debris;

UNDERLINING the importance of reinforcing public support for
the development of space technologies, ensuring complementa-
rities of actions and maximising synergies with non-space devel-
opments;

RECOGNISING that the European Union, ESA and their respective
Member States are the three key actors of the European Space
Policy, and HIGHLIGHTING that the European Union is taking
increased responsibilities for space matters, especially related to
space applications, consistent with those of a global actor and
bringing an added-value to ESA and Member States while
respecting roles and responsibilities of each of them;

CONSIDERING that, in these conditions and in the framework of
the European Space Policy, the European Union, as well as ESA
and their respective Member States, are main space actors, and
they will develop Europe as a leading space power on the inter-
national scene. In this context, IDENTIFIES the following issues to
be addressed:

— in line with the international relations strategy, promoting a
coherent approach to international cooperation in space
programmes in view of their global nature, while recog-
nising that Europe should be able to face global competition.
Solar System exploration, Earth environment and sustainable
development are the priority domains for implementing
international cooperation,

— ensuring for all the EU and ESA Member States an open and
equitable access to the benefits of space activities in terms of
public policies, scientific data, technological development,
industrial activities and services,

— strengthening

to coordinate
European expertise and investments in space funded from
Community, intergovernmental and national sources as well

existing mechanisms

the

— guaranteeing the continuity of autonomous, reliable and
cost-efficient access to space at affordable conditions for the
EU, ESA and their respective Member States, based on both
the availability of a set of adequate and competitive
world-class launchers and an operational European space
port,

— federating through the EU, based on the policy needs of the
EU, and of ESA and EU Member States, their demand for
space applications, through a transparent process enabling
the EU to identify user requirements, to establish priorities,
and to ensure the continuity of services. Maintenance of the
including their
necessary tools to provide these services,
funding, should be executed in partnership with the stake-
holders concerned and the operators when appropriate,

— promoting the development of an appropriate regulatory
framework to ease the swift emergence of innovative and
competitive downstream services,
in particular with the
objective of guaranteeing sustained access to spectrum for
all space-based applications,

— organising the governance of space in line with the Resolu-
tion of the 4th Space Council and with the political ambi-
tions of EU, ESA and their respective Member States, in par-
ticular the optimisation of the decision-making process in
the field of space in the Council of the European Union as
well as in other EU institutions,

— developing adequate EU instruments and funding schemes,
taking into account the specificities of the space sector, the
need to strengthen its overall and its industry's competitive-
ness and the necessity of a balanced industrial structure; and
allowing appropriate long-term Community investment for
space related research and for the operation of sustainable
space-based applications for the benefit of Europe and its
citizens, in particular by examining all space-related policy
consequences within the framework of the next financial
perspective,

— strengthening the cooperation with developing countries;

UNDERLINES the added value for EU and ESA Member States'
ministers in charge of space to meet as frequently as useful to
address the main political issues on the basis of an appropriate
roadmap.

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II. CURRENT PRIORITIES

WELCOMES the following significant advances in the Galileo and
GMES programmes:

— the successful

launch and in-orbit validation of GIOVE-B,
allowing to demonstrate critical new technologies needed for
the performance of the Galileo system,

— the conclusions of the EU Council in November 2007 and
the subsequent adoption by the European Parliament and
the Council of the Regulation on the further implementation
of the European GNSS programmes, clarifying the public
governance of
the Galileo deployment phase and the
EGNOS operations and the implications of the actions for
Galileo funding,

— the decision by ESA Member States to initiate the GMES
Space Component programme;
the
EC-ESA agreement providing the Community contribution
to this programme; and the provision by EC of initial opera-
tional
funding through the implementation of a GMES
preparatory action in 2008,

the conclusion of

— the demonstration at the Lille GMES Forum of pre-opera-

tional GMES services,

— the launch of the GMES and Africa partnership through the
‘Lisbon Process on GMES and Africa’ with a view to serving
the African users,

— the proposal on the fundamental architecture of GMES

described in the Munich roadmap;

REAFFIRMS the continuing priority to implement both Galileo
and GMES rapidly.

A. GALILEO

RECOGNISING that Galileo constitutes the first flagship space
programme of the EU;

and intangible assets it has funded related to space applications,
such as those of the Galileo and EGNOS programmes, in par-
ticular with respect to liability issues.

B. GMES

RECALLING that GMES is a user-driven initiative that should
maximise the use of existing space and non-space Earth Obser-
vation centres, capacities and services in Europe,
including
EUMETSAT, the EU Satellite Centre …;

STRESSES that the in-situ Earth observation infrastructures which
Member States support, together with space observation infra-
structures, represent a major contribution to the Earth observa-
tion capacities and should be made available to GMES on a
permanent basis;

HIGHLIGHTS that data and service continuity is indispensable
and that such continuity must be guaranteed by the European
Union, in particular through long-term funding, based on part-
nerships for the various GMES components;

REAFFIRMS the role of ESA as development and procurement
agency for the dedicated GMES Sentinel missions, and as coordi-
nator for the whole GMES Space Component, including contri-
butions made available by Member States, EUMETSAT and
further GMES partners;

INVITES the Commission to define an adequate GMES legal
framework,
involving the Council General Secretariat where
appropriate, and to explore the implications of certification of
satellite remote sensed data;

STRESSES that many GMES information services have the nature
of a European public good and must be made available
according to a full and open access principle, subject to some
constraints such as security;

INVITES the Commission to take into consideration and analyse
past difficulties in order to reap the full benefits of this experi-
ence;

IDENTIFIES the need to elaborate an action plan leading to the
setting-up of an EU GMES programme, aiming at securing the
continuity of GMES services and of the critical observation data
which they require. This action plan should include:

LOOKS FORWARD the creation of the Galileo Inter-Institutional
Panel;

UNDERLINES the need for increased coordination between the
European Commission, ESA and their respective Member States,
in relation to R & D for satellite navigation systems, services
and applications;

HIGHLIGHTS the continued co-operation with international part-
ners on issues of system compatibility and interoperability;

INVITES the Commission to address the legal implications of the
European Community becoming the owner of those tangible

— an approach for the overall GMES governance and all

its
components, identifying the relevant actors with their role
and responsibilities, and based on a series of GMES partner-
ships, as well as arrangements for appropriate participation
of ESA Member States which are not members of the EU,

— a plan for sustainable funding of GMES, based on an assess-
ment of the overall financing needs for GMES and the defi-
nition of the budgetary strategy at national and European
levels, taking into account the three successive stages: R & D
stage to be funded from R & D appropriations, transition
stage with mixed R & D and operational funding, opera-
tional stage with dedicated funding for operations involving
the users,

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— the definition of operational service delivery mechanisms for
each GMES service, including identification of their opera-
tors,

IDENTIFIES the following four priority areas in the implementa-
tion of the European Space Policy for the coming period.

— the definition between the EU and Member States of a
process to formalise their commitments to contribute to
GMES through existing in situ observation and service infra-
structures,

A. SPACE AND CLIMATE CHANGE

— the identification of the role of the GEO initiative and other
intergovernmental or multilateral initiatives, such as CEOS,
in accessing the whole range of data available, as well as the
contribution of GMES to these international endeavours,

CONSIDERING that climate challenges facing humanity are of
global concern, and that
the EU is adapting its policies to
address them;

— a process to establish a comprehensive data policy for all
data generated by the GMES system, including appropriate
labelling and a data security policy which will ensure that all
sensitive data is fully protected and kept confidential.

WELCOMES:

— the proposal of

the European Commission for a new
preparatory action in the Preliminary Draft Budget for 2009,
paving the way for a future funding of the operational phase
of GMES,

— the intention of the Commission to address all of these
issues in a Communication to be adopted by the end of
October 2008, having consulted with the main stakeholders,
in particular agreeing with ESA an overall programmatic
approach for the GMES Space Component,

— the intention of the ESA DG, having consulted with ESA
Member States and the Commission, to submit a proposal
for the GMES Space Component Segment 2 programme for
subscription to the ESA Council at Ministerial
in
November 2008.

level

III. NEW PRIORITIES WITHIN THE EUROPEAN SPACE POLICY

HIGHLIGHTS that the European Council welcomed on 14 March
2008 the joint report from the High Representative and the
European Commission on Climate Change and International
Security which in particular recalled that the majority of UN
emergency appeals for humanitarian aid in 2007 were climate
related, and identified the multiplier effect of climate change on
security risks;

RECALLS that the European Council asked the Council of the
European Union to submit recommendations on appropriate
follow-up action in the field;

EMPHASISES the objective to improve the qualitative and quanti-
tative understanding of the extent of climate change and of its
consequences and the need to continue and expand the
to this understanding and related
European contributions
modelling, in order to provide the evidence base for key deci-
sions to be taken in environment policy;

RECOGNISES the unique contribution of space programmes
which, through their global observation capacity and long-term
coverage, provide the series of data requested by the scientific
community for research into climate change, while comple-
menting other observation and measurement tools;

the

contribution of

the ESA Living Planet
RECOGNISES
Programme and the national Earth science space missions, of
EUMETSAT operational programmes, and of the GMES Space
Component
infrastructure to the collection of observations
enabling Europe to derive time series of climate parameters and
to understand the major climate processes;

in conjunction with the
CALLS FOR the scientific community,
European Commission, ESA and EUMETSAT, to define how the
range of GMES services and European space observation
archives can contribute most effectively to the provision of data
including Essential Climate Variables for scientific research;

INVITES the Commission to conduct a study to assess the needs
for full access to standardised data and for increased computing
power, and the means to fulfil
taking into account
existing capacities and networking in Europe;

them,

WELCOMES the joint preparation by ESA and EUMETSAT of a
programme proposal for Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) to
be submitted to the ESA Council at Ministerial
in
November 2008 and subsequently to the EUMETSAT Council;
its central role being in operational meteorology, MTG will also
contribute to GMES, to the monitoring of climate and thus to
the detection of global climate change.

level

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B. CONTRIBUTION OF SPACE TO THE LISBON STRATEGY

EMPHASISES that space, as a high tech R & D domain and
through the economic exploitation of its results, can contribute
to reaching the Lisbon goals so as to fulfil the economic, educa-
tional, social and environmental ambitions of the EU and the
expectations of its citizens, and so as to achieve the objectives
for growth and employment by providing new business oppor-
tunities
services,
throughout Europe, thus contributing to territorial cohesion;

innovative

solutions

various

and

for

CONSIDERS that, taking into account the international and poli-
tical nature of this capability, the European Union will take,
liaising with ESA and their respective Member States, an active
role to set up progressively this capability and an appropriate
governance structure;

UNDERLINES the need for Europe to have the ability to detect
non-compliance with implementation of international treaties
and obligations, being a key instrument
to safeguard and
promote European values;

CONSIDERS that, with the adoption by the European Parliament
and Council on 18 December 2006 of the Community Seventh
Framework Programme for Research, Technological Develop-
ment and Demonstration and its new thematic chapter Space as
part of the Cooperation Specific Programme, space has been
recognised by the EU as one of the priorities and key building
blocks of the European knowledge-based society;

WELCOMES, within the decision competences and finance
schemes of the existing framework, the setting up of the struc-
tured dialogue among European institutional actors in response
to the 2007 Space Council Resolution, with the aim of
increase in the coordination of space,
achieving a substantial
including the European
security and defence related activities,
Commission,
the
the Council,
European Defence Agency, ESA and Member States;

the General Secretariat of

UNDERLINES that space applications, such as satellite telecom-
munications, the EGNOS and Galileo systems and GMES, are
expected to create substantial global market opportunities, espe-
cially for SMEs, through the development of value-added down-
stream services; and that
the EU, ESA and their respective
Member States must accordingly maximise the value they secure
from these space assets. This growth should be promoted to
accelerate the emergence of economic opportunities and the
seamlessly integrating navigation,
development of
observation
and
and
combining them with terrestrial networks. To achieve this
requires appropriate regulatory framework, sustained access to
radio-spectrum for space applications, and development of stan-
dards in relevant areas;

communications

systems

services

satellite

RECALLING that GMES relies on some dual use observation
capacities and that Galileo, GMES and satellite communications
systems will provide services which may be of interest for some
security applications;

RECOGNISES that the uses made by any military users of Galileo
or GMES must be consistent with the principle that Galileo and
GMES are civil systems under civil control, and consequently
that any change to this principle would require examination in
the framework of the Title V/TEU and in particular Articles 17
and 23 thereof, as well as in the framework of the ESA Conven-
tion;

TAKES NOTE that space activities could thus be considered for
inclusion into the Lead Market Initiative.

HIGHLIGHTS the need to:

C. SPACE AND SECURITY

HIGHLIGHTS the
to the
CFSP/ESDP including the Petersberg tasks, and thus to the
security of European citizens;

contribution of

important

space

their

security must

RECALLS that space assets have become indispensable for our
economy and that
thus be ensured;
UNDERLINES the need for Europe, in line with its ambition to
strengthen its status as world-class space leader, to develop a
European capability for the monitoring and surveillance of its
initially based on
space infrastructure and of space debris,
existing national and European assets, taking benefit of relation-
ships which may be established with other partner nations and
their capabilities;

— define the way and means to improve the coordination
in

space programmes

between civilian and defence
long-term arrangements,

— develop a capacity to meet European user needs for compre-
hensive situational awareness of
the space environment
through a coordinated activity within Europe, and possibly
with other partners,

— recognise Europe's dependence on overseas suppliers for
selected critical space technologies and components, estab-
lish mitigation strategies to ensure guaranteed European
access, and take practical steps to pursue reduction of
Europe's dependence;

UNDERLINES the benefits of drawing on existing capacities and
infrastructures at national as well as European level;

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the intention of

TAKES NOTE of
the ESA DG to submit a
proposal for a programme on space situational awareness, for
subscription at
in
November 2008, setting the basis for the operational capability
and respecting the roles of the European Defence Agency and of
the EU and ESA Member States.

the ESA Council

at Ministerial

level

D. SPACE EXPLORATION

WELCOMES the successful launch of the ESA Columbus labora-
tory and the successful demonstrations of
the Automated
Transfer Vehicle ‘Jules Verne’ as truly European technology
ensuring
and crucial
development projects
European access to the International Space Station ISS and its
sustained utilisation;

elements

for

AFFIRMS that space exploration is a political and global endea-
vour and that Europe should undertake its action within a
worldwide programme, without any monopoly or appropriation
by one country; the different actors taking part with their own
capacities and priorities;

HIGHLIGHTS the need for Europe to develop a common vision
and long-term strategic planning for exploration, ensuring key
positions for Europe, therefore based on its domains of excel-
lence; thus the necessary political dialogue with the other states
involved in the worldwide exploration programme has to be
further developed and promoted on the international scene by
the European Union, ESA and their respective Member States,
each one in its own role, and in close coordination among each
other;

WELCOMES the proposal by the Commission to organise a high
level political conference on a long term global vision for space
exploration, opening a public debate on the European role in
this global endeavour, and based on appropriate preparatory
studies coordinated by ESA to assess the European domains of
excellence, and elaborate different scenarios for a European
contribution with associated costs and planning;

TAKES NOTE of the Global Exploration Strategy outlining the
global coordination of the major powers' plans for human and
robotic exploration, including the possibility, at a later stage, of
a human expedition to Mars;

AFFIRMS that Europe, building on its successful track record in
exploration over a number of decades,
in which science has
been the key driver, is committed to playing a significant role in
the international enterprise to explore the Solar system and to
develop a deep understanding of the conditions for life to func-
tion beyond our planet and ACKNOWLEDGES the fact that estab-
lishing Europe as a fundamental pillar of these activities will be
achieved only through sustained investment;

REALISES that the technologies to be developed must be assessed
carefully with a perspective of
taking key decisions, and
HIGHLIGHTS that these may have a lasting impact on the percep-
tion of Europe's scientific and technological capabilities in the
world and the self-perception of European citizens;

UNDERLINES the value of space exploration for inspiring young
Europeans to choose a career in science and technology and to
strengthen these capabilities in Europe.