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AT Consult Europe

The EU space policy is based on years of meetings within the European Commission and its space council regarding the direction for Europe in space. The policy articulates goals and objectives within three main areas: strategic interests, security, and economic prosperity. Throughout the document, strategic language interweaves itself throughout with Euro-centric goals and objectives for its industry, economy, and civil and military arenas. This policy indicates that the Europeans understand the political and economic importance of space power as a vital interest, its impact on the everyday life of European citizens, and its affect on Europe’s quest for greater security, prestige, and wealth. Interestingly, the order and precedence of their strategic objectives were like a national-focused document with end states reflecting the interests of Europe first, and lacking the global flavor of the 2010 US space policy and follow-on strategy.

The strategic goals of this document are not what many might expect: a US-modeled push for “interdependence”, “collective self-defense”, and further integration in the “global economy.” Rather, the EU produced a highly unilateral document focused on the advancement of European domestic space capabilities. These capabilities aim to enable “economic and political independence” for European citizens and a greater role for European excellence in space and worldwide. They view space as an area of strategic importance and acknowledge the need for enhanced military capabilities in space, in order to “strengthen its security missions.” Galileo is one example of many projects, where the Europeans desire is to remain independent and lead in other areas as well, such as space launch. One other key area to note is that this “independent access” to space is underscored by the statement that Europe will not rely on any foreign launch or service provider. This is interesting when comparing EU with current US plans and policy that project reliance on Russian Soyuz for human access to the International Space Station and American reliance on commercial and foreign partners overall. This US reliance on foreign partners could potentially lead to advantages for foreign commercial entities and possibly hurt, not help, US space industrial and high tech jobs. This is an area that shows potential strategic contradictions within the US policy and bears further scrutiny.

Second, the Europeans’ vision for space power advancement includes growth for its domestic space industry and economic capabilities as well. The EU policy states, “a solid technological base [is required] if [Europe] is to have an independent, competitive space industry.” To advance the influence of the EU space industrial base globally, they recognize they must increase innovation. Like the US space policy that advocates increased innovation in research and development, the EU policy also advocates innovation but with a different tone. To promote “industrial competitiveness” in the marketing of European space technology, they see “the setting of ambitious space objectives” as the key to “stimulating innovation,” not endless funding of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education initiatives to keep the youth excited about entering the apparently dwindling US space sector. They understand that beyond mere research and development alone, with no concrete commitment to any funded ambitious space objectives in space exploration and national security programs, their space industrial base will neither innovate nor compete on the world stage. As a result of this understanding, the Europeans desire a strong industry that will assist/provide the increased prestige and influence necessary for European space efforts to be advanced in multilateral forums.

In addition, one of the bolder international efforts they briefly cover is their interest in opening up potential dialogue with the Chinese and utilizing EU space power for European influence operations in Africa. Also, as expected by many observers, they declare their commitment to the promotion of “responsible behavior” through their proposed Code of Conduct (see “Securing space security”, The Space Review, December 20, 2010). This is the essence of their section on international cooperation. They do not spend any great detail discussing any of their few international cooperation areas, rather stating that the development of any space forum or dialogues with other nations, such as China, must be of “mutual benefit” and that the “scope and objectives of which will be set out in appropriate bilateral agreements.” In other words, the EU space policy is a policy regarding Europe and its goals and objectives for the Union to gain in space leadership worldwide. Gaining added security, prestige, and wealth in space allow Europe to achieve a “key position” in space power based on excellence and “increased European capability.”