Space policy of the European Union

The European Space Council (English: European Space Council) is a joint meeting of the highest bodies of the European Space Agency (ESA ) and the European Union ( EU). He is to coordinate space activities of both organizations and develop a common European space policy. The Space Council has no mandate. All decisions must by him making bodies - to be confirmed - the ESA Council at ministerial level and the EU Council of Ministers for Competitiveness. The Space Council is a joint secretariat to the side. Together with the High Level Group on Space Policy (English High Level Space Policy Group, HSPG ) it prepares the meetings.

Cooperation between the EU and ESA and the tasks of the Space Council regulates provisionally the EU -ESA Framework Agreement of 25 November 2004.

Meetings

Meetings of the Space Council:

Background

In the past, the ESA was the only organization in Europe that dealt with Europe's space technology and space policy. For some years now, the European Union ( EU) considers the obligation to develop a coherent space policy. Thus, the demand for space-based services and applications by the EU on the one hand and the supply of space systems by the ESA should be the other hand, better coordinated. Europe is as a provider of space technology competitive internationally and space technologies - such as environmental monitoring or for communication - better use for the countries of Europe.

Copernicus and Galileo are core projects, of which it operates jointly with ESA for the EU. Other topics include satellite communications and space research, as well as the cooperation with Russia. The space exploration (English exploration ) and the development of space transportation (English launcher) for an independent access to space for Europe fall to the ESA.

In its report, Star 21 (2002), the EU amounted their future aerospace commitment annually to 5 billion euros. This would represent almost a doubling of space spending in Europe. For comparison, in 2005 ESA had a budget of nearly 3 billion euros per year. Realistically, are significantly less than 1 billion euros per year (as of June 2006).

To develop a long-term strategy, a survey of citizens, companies and institutions took place. It was based on the Green Paper on space policy in the EU in January 2003, where the problem areas and issues have been addressed to the European space sector.

In November 2003, the Commission published the results in the White Paper - the space, the treated and the European space strategy. Two years later, the EU provided a draft of a joint space program before known as: The European Space Policy - Preliminary Elements. In the EU draft constitution we find the use and exploration of outer space as a task of the European Union.