EU space strategy for security and defence

Key points

The EESC:

• agrees that before even enhancing the resilience and protection of space systems and services, the identification of threats is a priority, for which the involvement of all relevant actors, including industry, social actors and civil society, in the mapping and recommendations exercise needs to be ensured by the EU institutions;

• strongly recommends that the key role of industry in the identification of dependence issues and mitigation measures is fully recognised and highlighted, in relation to the objective of enhancing the resilience and protection of space systems and services in the Union

• stated that the role of space is essential for citizens and for Europe's strategic autonomy, as well as in global diplomacy, in embracing the European identity, and in inspiring and motivating the next generations;

• is convinced of the necessity for all the actions related to industry to be integrated as part of a coherent and European-wide industrial policy, and insists that those measures can only make sense and be fully efficient if they combine a tailor-made procurement policy, an ambitious and efficient research & development policy, and support for the market uptake of European-developed space technologies and services, also addressing export markets, in particular through economic diplomacy;

• believes that an ambitious, but also coherent, support to research and innovation is a cornerstone of the sustainability of the space sector and of its capacity to serve public policy needs;

• underlines the importance of preserving European sovereignty and avoiding non-European dependencies in strategic areas while promoting collaboration and interoperability, with reciprocity and mutual benefit with the US and other like-minded third parties as common rules;

• stresses that the Strategy must be followed by concrete and rapid actions in terms of targeted budget, schedules for implementation of the actions, and job creation. Such an accurate roadmap must be devised by the EU following a European-wide coordination of the actors involved in space activities.