Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO), Chair of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), Josef ASCHBACHER, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, Commander of the International Space Station (ISS) hold a press point in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check it against delivery.

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

statement

Strasbourg

press point

European Space Agency (acronym)

BUŞOI, Cristian-Silviu (EPP, RO)

European space industry (T)

CRISTOFORETTI, Samantha

ESA-ITRE press point by Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO), Chair of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) by Josef ASCHBACHER, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) and by Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, Commander of th

SOUNDBITE (English), Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO), Thank you so much. We are very honoured to be here this morning, having a very interesting and important visit, because clearly European Space Agency is a very important partner of European Union, European Parliament. I'm happy to have here Director General Aschbacher and also Commander Cristoforetti, and I am a Cristian Bușoi, Chair of Industry Research and Energy Committee. We'll have some short statements and then, of course, we are at your disposal for any questions you may have.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO), European Space Agency is a longstanding EU partner since 2000, when developing a joint space strategy followed by European space policy in 2003. Or flagship space programmes, Galileo for satellite navigation and Copernicus for Earth Observation represented the first framework of EU ESA agreement. The divided roles between ESA and the European Union are still relevant nowadays.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO), EU space needs the European Space Agency by our side with its expertise, and we need the ESA to work hand-in-hand with it EUSPA, our space agency, implementing the flagship programmes in the space sector. We entrusted the during the years ESA to deliver without delays on the new generation satellites according to the user requirements. So the new services to be delivered match the expectations of the new markets and new business models in a more and more competitive international arena.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO), We need to ensure together in our partnership that the European Union space remains competitive. We must ensure stability and evolution of the EU space programmes and prepare the new generations on a user driven basis to continue delivering State of the Art services. We need our very important partner ESA to support European Union in its upcoming assessment exercise. On the risks for EU security and public order relating notably to emerging and critical technologies for its space infrastructure to be better detected and mitigated.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO), In terms of newly released the actions foreseen by European Commission Communication or Space Defence Strategy, we need to work together. While the Union needs to define better military needs and requirements when establishing the service portfolio of Irish Square and how to develop cooperation with NATO in space security. Finally, I would like to once again underline the strong commitment of Industry Research and Energy Committee that space will remain a priority for our committee, for European Parliament and for the Union. And of course we are looking forward to explore the collaboration with the ESA on our upcoming work.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO), Communication to the European Parliament and the Council to the European Union Space Strategy for Security and Defence, which was released just last week. Space Traffic Management, you know that European Parliament requested European Commission to provide the legislative proposal in 2020 14 European Commission is working on it. So this legislation will make a big step towards security in space.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO), And of course, there is also the idea that European Commission will consider proposing an EU space law. We need also to work in the future with SatCen and EUSPA towards the gradual setup of a new Copernicus governmental service. And here we rely on all the other initiatives on the European Space Agency expertise to keep this in mind when developing all the European Union present and future initiatives in space. Thank you so much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef ASCHBACHER, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), So thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Bușoi, for having this opportunity to really address the community at large on on what is space for Europe. Just a very quick introduction on what we are talking here in terms of space and where we stand globally. And you have outlined Mr. Bușoi a very impressively of how important space is for everyday life. Space is today an economy that is worth about 350 billion U.S. dollars or euros, and it is projected to grow to about 1 trillion in the next decade.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef ASCHBACHER, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), And Europe has extremely good capabilities, thanks to all the investments made on the side of the European Space Agency, the side of the European Commission and Member States, which we have built up over the years. You mentioned Copernicus and Galileo, I'm very proud to say that these programmes have been initiated about 20 years ago within the European Space Agency context. Always hand in hand with the European Commission and now they are flagship programs among the best in the world, if not the best in the world, in both Earth observation and Galileo and navigation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef ASCHBACHER, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), This is, I think, something that Europe can be very proud of, that we have achieved that. Personally, I have been working in the European Commission for several years. I know the European Commission and European Union context very well. Now, I am the Director General of the European Space Agency since two years. And when I put a strategy on the table for my mandate, the number one priority is the EU - ESA relationship.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef ASCHBACHER, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), The relationship between both institutions, because we cannot do without each other. We need each other. And we are very complementary because we are a technical agency. We have about 6000 people, mostly engineers and scientists, and we build space programs and space infrastructure, and that's what we do. Of course, we have also very excellent astronauts. Samantha Cristoforetti Well then I say a word on the astronautical part, on the exploration part, but we are the agency.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef ASCHBACHER, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), About 60% of the public spending in space is spent through the European Space Agency, and I'm very happy and very proud that we work so closely with the European Commission, European Union and European Parliament in particular on making this possible. The next challenge is IRIS² we have achieved a very strong support that the ESA ministerial conference in November last year, 640 million on the side of the ESA Member States to contribute to the programme that is now being initiated.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef ASCHBACHER, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), But this is part of a wider subscription that the ESA Member States have been giving us to ESA in order to implement new space program. So worth €17 billion Euros for the next three years, which is 17% more than in the previous ministerial conference in 2019. Which also shows that the Member States across Europe are fully committed to space. They are recognising the importance of space for strategic reasons, for economic reasons, for geopolitical reasons. And therefore I'm very happy to say that space is on a very steep path upwards towards space and we are making this possible together.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josef ASCHBACHER, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), But also I would like to call on politicians and especially our colleagues and friends in the European Parliament to really bring all the support necessary that you are upstairs on top of space activities in order to really compete in a very contested environment. So from my side, from the side of the European Space Agency of all you have all the commitment that I'm working very closely, hand in hand with European Commission, with European Parliament, with the Open Union to make this possible.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, Commander of the International Space Station (ISS), Good morning. First of all, I'd like to say that it's an immense honour for me to be invited today to celebrate International Women's Day at the European Parliament. So I'm very grateful to President Metsola for the invitation and very grateful to Mr. Bușoi for the opportunity of briefly addressing you in this context. Very proud to represent the European astronaut core here in the European Parliament. It's a very strong symbolism, I think. It's the heart of European democracy in decision making. And we are here today to talk about space.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, Commander of the International Space Station (ISS), And I don't know if this would have been the case a decade ago or even a few years ago. I think there is a growing awareness and understanding of how important space is, not only for research, not only for science. But how it's really woven into the fabric of modern society. So nothing works anymore without space in terms of our economies, our societies, to services, to our citizens, our security. And it's great to see how that is recognised and how there is an increasing effort to invest in space capabilities in Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, Commander of the International Space Station (ISS), In greater autonomy or non dependence. So that Europe can really, in the space domain play a role, be in a position that is commensurate, that is corresponding to the political and economic weight that Europe has in the world. Much has been said already about the flagship programmes Copernicus, Galileo, the new IRIS², and of course as an astronaut, what's dearest to me is exploration. And so I will have this amazing opportunity today of addressing the plenary.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, Commander of the International Space Station (ISS), And among other things, I will express my wish. It's it's a dream, but I think it can become a reality. That we will step up our level of ambition in exploration as well. I've had the incredible opportunity of fulfilling twice my dream of going to space. Once I flew in a Russian vehicle, once I flew in an American vehicle. And if I can allow myself to dream some more, my next dream is that maybe future European astronauts will have an opportunity of flying on a European vehicle.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, Commander of the International Space Station (ISS), And that on this European vehicle, maybe we will be able to welcome austronauts from other places in the world as well. I think it would have an incredible political, strategic, psychological, even, impact. It will really convey the message that in space we want to play on the same level as the great actors in the world.

SOUNDBITE (English), Samantha CRISTOFORETTI, Commander of the International Space Station (ISS), That we want to obviously continue to work together in international partnerships, but play a bigger role. So that we can better contribute to also set the way make decisions and be in a good position to reap the benefits from all the incredible economic, industrial research, technological opportunities that come from space. So thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO), I want to use this opportunity, because IRIS² was several time mentioned and it's very important that European Space Agency will be part with the expertise and experience of this extraordinary, important program, a very high word of appreciation. And thank you for Mr. Grudler, Christophe Grudler and the team of European Parliament, of Shadows rapporteur.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO), And also for Commissioner Thierry Breton, and the whole team European Commission. And of course for the Council for having so successfully and quickly adopted this programme that will raise our ambitions in space and the event that maybe we need to do more in order to fulfil the dream of Commander Cristoforetti, it's an important step forward. Thank you.

Q&A Question and answer with journalists.