Resolution submitted by JEF Political Commission 3: External Affairs and Global Governance. Adopted by the Federal Committee in Luxembourg on 10 April 2022. Amended and re-adopted by the Federal Committee in Budapest on 10 November 2024.

While the EU is at the forefront of many space activities such as Earth observation, navigation and space science, it is notably behind in the increasingly strategic areas of space exploration. Therefore, JEF Europe calls for a common agenda to equip the EU and its Member States with the resources and capabilities for the acquisition of an autonomous manned space access capability.

JEF Europe,

• Recalling the role that space exploration and collaboration have played in promoting a more peaceful global community via cooperation programmes such as  the Apollo-Soyuz programme, the Shuttle-Mir programme, or the creation of the International Space Station (ISS);
• Aspiring to a reality in which space and the wealth, both scientific and material, generated through its exploration and exploitation would belong to all of humanity and wouldn´t become hostage to national interests;
• Welcoming the EU’s commitment to the creation of the Galileo global positioning system (GPS) and the two new flagship initiatives to promote secure satellite connectivity and Space Traffic Management (STM) and calls for adequate funding to maintain and improve the system;
• Supporting the focus on space contribution to achieving climate neutrality outlined in the Matosinhos Manifesto of the European Space Agency (ESA) of November 2021;
• Approving the goals of the secure satellite connectivity to not only increase connectivity, resilience and security of the European internet infrastructure but also of that in under serviced regions and countries, especially in the Global South and areas at risk of conflict, thereby supporting their development, security and prosperity, and strive for an international approach on increased connectivity;
• Underlining the importance of space technology as a strategic industrial sector for the EU, accounting for almost 10% of GDP, and regrets that the space industry has not been considered, let alone chosen, for a Joint Undertaking (JU) in the Horizon programme in the EU’s 2021-2027 Multiannual Framework (MFF);
• Recalling the main provisions of the Outer Space Treaty of which 25 EU Member States are signatories, in particular, the prohibition of military activities on celestial bodies and of the stationing of weapons of mass destruction in outer space;
• Recognising the crucial importance of space exploration and research as an investment with high returns in terms of the creation of new industries, scientific advancement, and development of new R&D techniques, new knowledge and techniques across the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)fields of research with important and tangible practical applications as already seen, for instance, in the medical field and material sciences;
• Celebrating ESA’s vital role in providing the Service Module to the upcoming Artemis programme missions which will be landing humans in the Moon for the first time in over half a century;
• Lamenting Europe’s lack of independent crewed access to space, made all the more evident by the absolute reliance on US and Russian hardware to send astronauts to Low Earth Orbit (LEO);
• Acknowledging that the creation of the United States Space Force is part of a longer-term trend towards a more defence-oriented perspective on space, also represented by the reformation of the Russian Space Force and foundation People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force in 2015;
• Recalling the 2007 Chinese anti-satellite test as the first known successful use of an anti-satellite missile since 1985;
• Deploring that the budget allocated to the space sector by the European Union and its member states is a mere 20% of US investments and also lags behind China;
• Furthercondemning the inefficient and fragmented nature of EU funding to the space sector, exacerbated by ESA’s increasingly outdated geographic
  return principle;

Therefore, JEF Europe,

1. Encourages the European Commission to develop an ever-closer partnership with private actors and European companies in the space industry, able to compete with the space industry in the USA and China;
2. Calls on the EU institutions for an increased allocation of resources in research and development programmes to better integrate education and training with investment in boosting the European space industry;
3. Urges the Member States of the ESA and the Member States and the European Union to increase the ESA and European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) budgets respectively and respect the Convention stating that it can only participate in projects that have a peaceful purpose;
4. Encourages European States to create new research programs and develop further cooperation with global allies on space technology including the development of micro satellites in the pursuit of improving EU cyber security;
5. Recommends that the ESA and EUSPA engage in close collaboration to promote the development of manned space exploration capabilities including crewed space vehicles to ensure free and autonomous access to space with minimal reliance on foreign organisations and hardware;
6. Also calls for the appropriate deployment of the technology and know-how generated within European defence mechanisms;
7. Encourages the EU and its member states to collaborate with international partners to the extent possible, with an emphasis on shared our values and the mutual benefit and human progress that can be achieved;
8. Supports the European Commission’s extension of the Copernicus and Galileo programmes and is confident that they provide a good opportunity for international cooperation with partners such as NASA, CSA and JAXA;
9. Calls on all missing Member States to become signatories to the Outer Space Treaty and become members of the ESA;
10. Calls on the EU commission to publish the legislative draft of the EU Space Law, which is supposed to codify existing principles, and legislate it as soon as possible;
11. Demands the European Commission and ESA commit to a more ambitious space programme, including but not limited to manned missions, the establishment of a permanent lunar presence, and working towards the commercialisation of space;
12. Calls on the European Union and Member States to increase the funding of ESA to be on par with NASA and to combine funding into the common EU budget, eliminating in the process the outdated geographic return principle which is holding back Europe’s potential in space;
13. Calls on the European Union to create an agency to protect Europe’s space assets, ensure the uninterrupted access of Europe to space, and defend Europe from any potential weapons in space, and that the agency should refrain from any direct militarisation of space in violation of the Outer Space Treaty, at least so long as rival countries also uphold their relevant obligations.