The meeting of the Council at Ministerial level (CM25) of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Bremen has concluded, where the Member States have drawn up the road map for the development and consolidation of the European space sector. The primary objective of the meeting was “strengthen the European position in the international field to achieve competitiveness and independence in space“in a rapidly evolving global context.
Italy assumed a central role during the works, with the delegation led by the Minister of Business and Made In Italy, Adolfo Urso, and the President of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Teodoro Valente. The works opened with the unanimous designation of Minister Urso as Prime Minister, anticipating the announcement that Italy will be the organizing country of the next ESA Ministerial, scheduled for 2028.
A decisive financial commitment for the three-year period
Overall subscriptions by Member States for ESA’s three-year programs amount to just over 22 billion euros, marking a strong growth compared to 2022. Italy has strengthened its financial commitment, standing at 3.5 billion euros for the next three years. This figure, which places theItaly among the top three contributors to ESA (after Germany), represents an increase of approximately 500 million euros compared to the previous ministerial round, equal to approximately 13% increase. All the programs in which Italy has invested are priorities and aim to consolidate the national role in all fields of space activities. Minister Adolfo Urso commented on the outcome of the Ministerial:“Italy returns as a protagonist in the European Space, contributing significantly to the decisions of the ESA Ministerial. […] A contribution that has exceeded the expectations of ESA itself and which will ensure full coverage of all the programs that are priorities for us and which have important industrial implications in our country: from access to space with Vega and Ariane to Earth observation, from navigation to safe communications, up to space experiments”.
Lunar missions and European astronauts
At the conclusion of the work, the decision was made to select three European astronauts who will be involved in the next lunar missions. The announcement confirmed the participation of an Italian astronaut together with colleagues from Germany and France, recognizing the “intense and permanent involvement in human space exploration” of the three major European nations. The selection of specific names will be based on the complex procedures required. The unanimous declarations that emerged from the Council reiterated the need to intensify cooperation between European countries and between ESA and the EU, with the aim of increasing the continent’s competitiveness in a sector “which has become an increasingly significant element and lever in the economic and strategic field
.”
President Teodoro Valente of ASI underlined the importance of the moment: “It was an ESA Ministerial Council in which several important principles for the near future of European space were reached. […] For Italy it was fundamental to draw attention to the future of Europe also through Space, aiming towards ever greater European autonomy, also creating new opportunities for Member States, their companies and their research ecosystems, expanding and consolidating the capacity to use space for the benefit of European citizens.”
The next three years will be crucial to “elevate the future of Europe also through Space” and to achieve increasingly higher autonomy, in a sector that requires a “different approach to the development of the ecosystem” due to the entry of new players on the global market.