Abstract
On 6 June 2018, following the interests of the European Union in space and considering the legal basis set forth in Article 189 (2) of the TFEU, the Commission presented a proposal for Regulation establishing the Space Programme of the European Union, as well as the European Union Agency for the Space Programme. This Regulation will harmonize rules from separate Regulations and Decisions by combining them in a single text while repealing some of them at the same time.
The need for the Commission to propose such Regulation is understandable, it will better implement the European Space Strategy and achieve its goals as well as expand the role of the European Union on the space field. It will also raise the Union’s space budget, expand the tasks of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (due to which it will be renamed as European Union Agency for the Space Programme), create a system of governance between the actors involved and implement a new component called Governmental Satellite Communication (GOVSATCOM). However, this regulation might raise some challenges, specifically when it comes to the governance of the Programme. That is, of course, not the only question up to debate since the 16 billion euros budget for the 2021-2027 period (Article 11) will also raise some discussions, especially if we take into account that 19 of the EU’s 27 Member States (the United Kingdom was not considered a Member for this Regulation already) are also Member States of the European Space Agency (Slovenia is a non-full Member State of ESA) which had a 5.6 billion euros budget for 2018.
The need for the Commission to propose such Regulation is understandable, it will better implement the European Space Strategy and achieve its goals as well as expand the role of the European Union on the space field. It will also raise the Union’s space budget, expand the tasks of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (due to which it will be renamed as European Union Agency for the Space Programme), create a system of governance between the actors involved and implement a new component called Governmental Satellite Communication (GOVSATCOM). However, this regulation might raise some challenges, specifically when it comes to the governance of the Programme. That is, of course, not the only question up to debate since the 16 billion euros budget for the 2021-2027 period (Article 11) will also raise some discussions, especially if we take into account that 19 of the EU’s 27 Member States (the United Kingdom was not considered a Member for this Regulation already) are also Member States of the European Space Agency (Slovenia is a non-full Member State of ESA) which had a 5.6 billion euros budget for 2018.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Type | BlogPost |
| Media of output | AwarEU Blog |
| Publication status | Published - 3 Dec 2018 |