Madame President,

Ministers,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

As you know, implementation dialogues are a new tool for consultation, launched by the Commission this year. And the goal is for us to engage with and better understand the needs of industry and other partners relevant for the sector. To make implementation of policies easier and ultimately boost Europes competitiveness.

I had my first dialogue earlier this year on defence, and the second one, most recently, in November on space. With businesses from across the EU, big and small. With associations of space companies. With EUSPA and the European Space Agency.

And my first task at the implementation dialogue was to highlight the massive progress we have made this year.

 

Defence and Space Progress

Last week was exactly one year ago I started as the first ever Commissioner for Defence and Space. And its no coincidence I was tasked to cover both these policies. The geopolitical situation demands a massive defence ramp up. And the space revolution demands a massive space ramp up. Because we need space for defence and defence of space. In the last year we created what I call massive opportunities for defence. A financial big bang:

  • 150 billion EUR in safe loans for defence.
  • And at the NATO summit member states pledged 3.5 % of GDP for defence until 2035.
  • 6.8 trillion euro, if they fulfil their pledges.
  • Plus 1.5% for resilience.

And I am sure a lot of this will go to space because of the dual use nature of our space assets. And also because space is one of our strategic priorities for our defence.

Thats why we proposed a fivefold increase in the European defence and space budget, as part of the European Competitiveness Fund in the next multiannual EU budget, the MFF. To 131 billion euro.

And its important that this is for both Defence AND Space. That tells you how much we consider Defence and Space to belong together.

 

Space Shield

Its why Space is key to our Roadmap for defence readiness 2030 -our strategic plan to fill capability gaps, with clear timelines and indicators for progress.

The European Space Shield is one of four proposed flagship defence projects. Projects that no Member State could ever build alone but that protect the whole of Europe.

The Space Shield is there to protect our space assets and services, and support the defence of European on the ground, at sea and in the air. Building on current and planned EU dual use systems:

For secure satellite communications, we started with GOVSATCOM, pooling and sharing existing capacities. And we are working full speed on IRIS², the EU secure connectivity programme.

For satellite navigation, we expect to declare the initial operations of Galileos public regulated service in the coming months. A secure service against spoofing and jamming. And we will continue with reinforcing robustness with the low earth orbit positioning navigation and timing (LEOPNT).

For Earth observation, we  are working on the Earth observation governmental service – Space based geo-intelligence for military and security use. We expect that Member States will be able to approve the civil and military user requirements early next year to accelerate the implementation of this new system.

 

Space progress

Space is not only vital for our defence, our Space sector as such is essential for our economic competitiveness and strategic autonomy. Our space flagships are the best in the world: Copernicus for observation, Galileo for Navigation, and IRIS² will also be the best for connectivity.

Despite our challenges with the launching (which we are overcoming), now we are still global leaders in space. But that can change. The space economy is rapidly growing and will triple in size. We are at the start of space revolution.

The future belongs to space. We cannot afford to fall behind our adversaries. We cannot afford to fall behind our friends.

Thats why this year we put forward a vision for the space economy, to chart our future in space. And we proposed the Space Act. An act of simplification, replacing 27 national rules by one regulation, essential for our resilience and competitiveness.

We built a single market in Europe, now we need to extend it to space. And excellent that this year we had four successful Ariane launches. Among other things - completing the Copernicus constellation.  Access to space is vital for our future in space.

 

The Implementation dialogue

I am always ready to listen.

All these initiatives and proposals are based on extensive talks with all involved. Like today with you at this Council meeting. And with industry and other partners at the implementation dialogue on November 5th  we had a very good, and open discussion.

Among other things, Participants asked for:

Simplified procedures for funding and procurement.

Support for more risk taking in Research & Development and missions.

Because the big risks associated with space are an obstacle to investment. They asked for more EU level coordination to create economies of scale. More flagship programmes to ensure long term investment.

And there was agreement on the need to encourage greater use of space data. Our flagships produce excellent data that deserve still greater use. And on the need to maximise synergies between space and defence.

Overall, the dialogue affirmed the need for speed, coherence, and confidence in implementing the Union Space Policy. And the importance of innovation, risk-taking, and collaboration, with the goals of integrating civilian and defence objectives, Europes strategic autonomy, and competitiveness.

So, all in all: Quite an impressive “to-do” list. But also quite a lot of agreement about the main direction.

 

Going forward

And I assured our partners at the dialogue that I would listen to their concerns. Like I am listening to you today and in all other occasions we had the opportunity to exchange.

For the year ahead we have a busy programme. We will present an action plan on the European Space Shield. We will also present a new proposal for a regulation on the EU space systems and their governance focusing on EUSPA.

As discussed in our policy debate just before, I count on working together with the Council and Parliament to reach an agreement on the European Space Act and on the MFF funding for space – the European Competitiveness Fund and Horizon Europe.

But most importantly, space is about delivering infrastructure and services. Next year will continue being a year of delivery.

First, for Galileo, Copernicus and IRIS².

Second, for the new systems, notably LEOPNT and EOGS. We need to start design and development work on the basis of the EU political mandate.

Third, access to space. Europe overcame the crisis and set access to space back on track. But we need to accelerate and establish a common vision.

Finally, I am committed to continue the policy work we started with the European Space Economy. We need to ensure more growth and more competitiveness in Europe for Europe.

I thank you for your attention.