France is calling for a stronger preference for European-made space assets linked to defence, arguing that the bloc must rapidly reduce reliance on foreign equipment as global security dynamics shift, French and German ministers said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cTime is of the essence\u201d for Europe to develop a space policy that relies far more heavily on European equipment and services, Philippe Baptiste, France\u2019s minister for higher education, research and space, said at the European Space Conference. \u201cThe world is changing very fast,\u201d he added, pointing to growing geopolitical uncertainty and strains in transatlantic relations.<\/p>\n
Baptiste said unpredictability in relations with the United States has implications for Europe\u2019s defence and security programmes, including space. \u201cThis means that, in practice, we do have to change the way we see space,\u201d he said, citing the need for European launchers, satellites and defence-related space systems that are not vulnerable to external constraints.<\/p>\n
The push comes as the European Union steps up efforts to coordinate space assets after falling behind the United States and China, and as the war in Ukraine has highlighted space as a critical enabler for defence and an emerging theatre of conflict. The European Commission\u2019s Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030 has identified space assets as strategic enablers alongside air defence, ammunition and drones.<\/p>\n
Baptiste said the EU should implement a \u201c100% European preference\u201d for space and defence, extending principles already applied in some defence funding schemes. \u201cHow can we imagine that we would use European money only to buy and to develop from foreign partners?\u201d he said. Using European launch services and suppliers would also reduce the risk that third countries could block launches or restrict the operation of systems, he added.<\/p>\n
Germany echoed the call for urgency. \u201cWe can all see what is happening in the world, so waiting is not an option,\u201d said Dorothee B\u00e4r, Germany\u2019s minister for space, urging faster progress toward a common European space policy. Germany has said it plans to invest \u20ac35 billion in military space capabilities before 2030 and is the largest contributor to the European Space Agency.<\/p>\n
B\u00e4r said Europe should ensure interoperability across national space assets and systems. \u201cEverything that comes from Europe in the space sector \u2026 should interlock,\u201d she said, adding that Europe faces an \u201cepochal shift\u201d requiring stronger collective action to safeguard security and freedom.<\/p>\n
While some EU member states may be cautious about restricting procurement choices given the need to rapidly expand space capacity, Baptiste warned that progress will depend on all 27 countries coalescing around a shared vision. He said the EU should lead in shaping the political future of space, from long-term programmes to strategic autonomy.<\/p>\n
Euronews<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
France is calling for a stronger preference for European-made space assets linked to defence, arguing that the bloc must rapidly reduce reliance on foreign equipment as global security dynamics shift, French and German ministers said on Tuesday. \u201cTime is of the essence\u201d for Europe to develop a space policy that relies far more heavily on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6504,244,1060,6621,831,242,7254,7255,7256],"class_list":["post-20721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-dorothee-bar","tag-europe","tag-european-commission","tag-european-industry","tag-european-space-agency","tag-france","tag-philippe-baptiste","tag-space-defence","tag-strategic-autonomy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20721"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}