SPACE COUNCIL : FUTURE RELATIONS WITH ESA STILL UP IN THE AIR.

• Position: European Space Agency - Brief article

The Council of Ministers is still undecided on how relations between the EU and the European Space Agency (ESA) should evolve in the future. The member states' ministers discussed this issue during the Competitiveness Council, on 21 February and, according to a source, "opinions remained more or less the same" as during previous meetings. In other words, some delegations (France, for example) could quite happily picture a big bang' scenario in the future, which would see the ESA practically become an EU agency, whereas others (the UK and Germany, among others) would be just as happy to see a small institutional touch-up or "improvement" on the agreement that for now links the EU to the ESA. However, this agreement expires in 2016. Things will become clearer in May, when the Council is expected to adopt conclusions. The discussions have been underway for a year now.

One thing remains clear: the member...