EU should make better use of its space assets, auditors say

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21/04/2021 16:22

By Marine Strauss
    BRUSSELS, April 21 (Reuters) - The European Union has not
done enough to capitalise on its 18 billion euro ($21.6 billion)
space programmes, including its Galileo satellite positioning
system and Copernicus observation satellites, EU auditors said
on Wednesday.
    The European Court of Auditors (ECA) found that the EU had
failed to spell out the societal and economic benefits of its
space programmes, or set clear targets or timeframes to achieve
those benefits.
    "Technologically, the EU has succeeded in becoming a global
player in terms of space-based earth observation and navigation
services. But the EU lacks a comprehensive approach for
supporting the uptake of its space services to fully capitalise
on the significant public investment made," said Mihails
Kozlovs, the ECA member responsible for the report.
    The EU has spent 18.3 billion euros up to the end of 2020
and has earmarked more than 14 billion euros for the 2021-2027
period. The biggest share of that investment is on Copernicus
and Galileo, the two flagship satellite systems.
    Copernicus was put to good use monitoring some EU policies,
in agriculture, climate and maritime surveillance for example,
the auditors said. But EU-wide use of its observation data
remains restricted to scientists and experts, even though access
to it was improved.
    The Galileo programme, which has 26 satellites in orbit to
provide an alternative to the U.S. GPS positioning system, was
initially delayed by eight years when it began operating in
2016.
    The auditors said progress had been made in introducing
Galileo-compatible receivers, allowing it to be used in
smartphones or cars. But it still lags the U.S. GPS system, and
auditors said it will take time until Galileo is used more
widely.
($1 = 0.8328 euros)

 (Reporting by Marine Strauss @StraussMarine
Editing by Sabine Siebold and Peter Graff)
 ((Marine.Strauss@thomsonreuters.com; +32 2 287 6830; Reuters
Messaging: marine.strauss.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))