EU Space Programme: Council presidency reaches political agreement with the European Parliament

Source: Council of the European Union (Council) i, published on Wednesday, December 16 2020.

[Press release updated on 18 December 2020 to include link to the agreed text following endorsement by Coreper]

EU Council and European Parliament negotiators today reached a provisional political agreement on the proposed regulation establishing the next EU space programme for the years 2021 to 2027.

A financial envelope of €14.8 billion (current prices) has been set aside for the programme, broken down as follows:

(a) for Galileo and EGNOS: €9.01 billion;

(b) for Copernicus: €5.42 billion;

(c) for SSA and /GOVSATCOM: €442 million.

The regulation will ensure:

  • - 
    high-quality, up-to-date and secure space-related data and services;
  • - 
    greater socio-economic benefits from the use of such data and services, such as increased growth and job creation in the EU;
  • - 
    enhanced security and autonomy of the EU;
  • - 
    a stronger role for the EU as a leading actor in the space sector.

It will achieve this by:

  • - 
    simplifying and streamlining the existing EU legal framework on space policy;
  • - 
    providing the EU with an adequate space budget to continue and improve on existing space flagship programmes such as EGNOS, Galileo and Copernicus, as well as monitor space hazards under the ‘space situational awareness' programme (SSA), and cater for access to secure satellite communications for national authorities (GOVSATCOM);
  • - 
    establishing the rules for governance of the EU space programme; standardising the security framework of the space programme.

Next steps

The provisionally agreed text will be submitted to the Council's permanent representatives committee for analysis/political endorsement on Friday 18 December. Following political endorsement by both the Council and the European Parliament, it will be the basis for the future adoption of the proposed regulation at second reading. The regulation cannot be adopted before the adoption of the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027.

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