SPACE COUNCIL : NO SEPARATE BUDGET LINE FOR SPACE SURVEILLANCE.

How is the EU's future space surveillance and tracking support programme going to be funded? The member states no longer want to depend on the US to warn them about threats of collision in space and are asking for the establishment of a European capacity that will cost around 70 million for the 2014-2020 period. This money will not come from a separate budget line but will instead be taken out of the envelope for other programmes, such as Galileo, Horizon 2020 or Copernicus. This was the focal point on the agenda at the Competitiveness Council, on 3 December, and the objective was to simply take note of a progress report(1). The Lithuanian Presidency pointed out that the text would be amended to make it clear that funding would be coming from the envelope for other programmes. The European Commission's proposals are not completely clear but it is the only option the states have.

The stakes are high: every year, it is believed that hundreds of millions of euro worth of losses are incurred by European space infrastructures after collisions with space debris and other asteroids. That is without counting the indirect costs incurred by communication disruptions. The problem is that today the EU largely depends on the non-EU member states' capacity and good will (particularly the US') to protect its space infrastructures.The Commission and the member states want to put an end to this situation, which is why they have come up with a European programme that would allow states to pool their resources and create the first European space surveillance system.

(1) The document is available ata

Space CouncilNo separate budget line for space surveillanceBy Isabelle SmetsHow is the EUa s future space surveillance and tracking support programme going to be funded? The member states no longer want to depend on the US to warn them about threats of collision in space and are asking for the establishment of a European capacity that...