Synergy between the EU and esa

This blogg shall outline the synergies between ESA and the EU. It is obvious that the term "Synergy" refers not only to the value shain of dual-use technology, but also to a coherent, synergetic approach to space related R&TD and policies development.

What were the causes for the EU to move into outer space? What are the reasons for EU's engagement and institutional structures for managing in a joint-effort the GNSS and GMES programs? What is their role, why (or even if) they are needed, what makes the EU and ESA legitimate, what space policy and procurement procedures are implied and why, what form should the European Space Policy take and why, what the law is, and what duties the EuropeanParlament (EP) owe to a legitimate supranational body like the EU and esa. Particular emphasis is laid on the aspects of 'decision-making process' within the supranational structures of esa and EU.

A little History...

Roads of Collaboration - per aspera astra

The roads to outer space for Europe have always been a rough one, because of the diversity of national interests. The involvement of the former EEC in space affairs reaches back to the European Space Conferences (ESC) of 1970, held in Brussels, where the European Commission (EC) participated as an observer. Challenges, dissolution and hopes marked the 70ties in Europe. In view of the fact that the oil crisis had plunged the economies of the EEC into a critical situation, first mini-steps were taken to restructure the former EEC Joint Nuclear Research Center (JRC - the word 'Nuclear' was dropped after the restructure process thus JRC, which is until today the main EU center for research activities). The idea was to extend JRC responsibility into other non-nuclear research activities. At that time reseach were conducted mostly at national level. Another agitation came from the failed launches of the so-called Europa vehicle. The rocket community, ELDO - European Launcher Development Organisation, had spend over 640 million dollars - the value of today would be approx 1,6 billion Euro - for the development costs. On the political side the movement towards a construction of Europe were trapped and fresh impetus were needed.

Out of the economical circumstances described above, the member states of ELDO, UK, France, Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, Austria and FRG, and the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) decided to pool their resources together and signed the intergovernmental agreement of esa. The purpose for creating a single European Space Organisation by merging ELDO into ESRO has been embedded in Article II of the ESA Convention. The strong political commitment needed to do this merger came merely from the ambitious drive to have an autonomous capability to access space and to continue with EUROPA III's development, which eventually was named Ariane. In 1977 the first Ministrial Conference was held in Paris where the new Council of esa adopted the Earthnet programme and the European Remote Sensing Satellite programme. The Convention of ESA entered into force on 30 Oct. 1980 after the signature of France. "The purpose of the Agency shall be to provide for and to promote, for exclusively peaceful purposes, cooperation among European States in space rearch and technology and their space applications, with a view to their being used for scientific purposes and for operational space
applications systems: (Art. 2, esa Convention)

Roadmap for Europe in Space...

Is is undeniable that the reward of space activities is globalization, thanks to the proven capacities of human-made spacecraft focusing on Planet Earth. Moreover, the Iraq-, Afganistan-,Golf-and Yugoslavia crisis have demonstrated the necessity for Europe's engagement in providing peace and stability. During the Cardiff meeting the EU has officially extended its responsibility to security and defence issues. In line with the common defense policy, the St. Petersberg Declaration of the former WEU in 1992 sought to clarify the WEU's role as an integral defense component of the EU ( see Provisions of a Common Foreign and Security Policy Article J.4. In: Treaty on the EU, Luxembourg, 1992, p. 126). Diplomatic ties started to build up between ESA and the former WEU to define whether or not a synergy betweem civilian and military activities is admissible under the ESA Convention. Since space-based reconnaissance systems for verification of international treaties on disarmament are considered under UN terminology as peaceful, no legal barriers hinder esa to participate in space activities which have defense implications.

Space-based reconnaissance systems for verification of arms reduction treaty have made diplomacy transparent. The idea to establish an international satellite monitoring agency where brought up several times at the legal sub-committee of the United Nations Committee of Peaceful Uses in Outer Space (UNCOPUS), but without success. A strategic move were made by France to introduce the proposal for a satellite surveillance system to the WEU assembly after the Berlin Wall felt down. In response to this plan a space-group was established to investigate if an autonomous West European satellite system would be feasible. During the time of negotiations for the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFC), the WEU mininsters for foreign Affairs and Defense met in June 1991 to reach an agreement on the WEU satellite Centre (WEU-SC), which was located in Torrejon, Spain. For the pilot phase (1993-1996) the operation cost have been estimated to somewhat more than €38 Million. The satellite images used by the WEU-SC were SPOT, LANDSAT, ERS and HELIOS. Most of the experiment phase was used in training the inspection team how to interpret those images.

Against this background, the Long-term Strategic Planning Committee (LSPC) of ESA had published a report - the blue book titled "Investing in Space". The report underlinded there challenges:

1. The Challenge of Independence
2. The Challenge of Planetary Management
3. The Challenge of Beyond

Plus, in the annex twenty actions were proposed for 2001. Action five, in particular, recommended to "identify and organize the proper interfaces between ESA and security-related bodies. In particular, ESA should make contact with Western European Union and the OCCAR (European organization for the procurement of armaments), and jointly define and fund technological developments for security applications as part of ESA's Technology Programme"(Investing in Space - the challenge for Europe, 2nd report of ESA's long-term space policy committee, SP-2000, May 1999).

In this respect, the joint actions between ESA and EU are interwinded with security matters and the challenge is to have a more evolutionary process, which incorporates the idea of gradual implementation. This idea.....