The European Space Agency and EU policies; legal and political perspectives of the participation of Greece

Abstract

This dissertation examines how the International Space Law originated from the Public International Law, in order to define the limitation of operations in outer space and the rules for its exploitation, the creation of international space institutions and the creation of the European Space Agency (ESA). The dissertation focuses on ESA as an organization, its operations and programs, and mainly its cooperation with the European Union (EU) and its institutions through the years. Finally, I present the participation of Greece in the European Space Agency as a case study in order to examine the way ESA Member States can participate in the operations of the Agency. The European Space Agency was founded in 1975 in order for European nations to represent themselves peacefully in the international scene of space. More specifically, ESA develops and manages programs regarding space initiatives that help Europe in the fields of telecommunications, defense and security, weather monitoring and Earth observation. Currently it has 22 members that participate in the Agency’s projects and initiatives, at the extend that each nation decides to contribute.In 29 April 2004, the European Space Agency and the European Union proceeded in signing a Framework Agreement, in order to consolidate their cooperation. This cooperation, although opening new technological and fiscal chapters in the European space efforts, created sporadic tensions between the two organizations as well. ESA is an intergovernmental organization, while the EU is a supranational. This essentially means that the two organizations consist of different competences and that the Member States of each are have to follow different rules and different procedures. As we will see in detail bellow, many issues have come up over the 16 years of their cooperation and that calls for a change of plans and a renewal of the currently outdated Framework Agreement they signed back in 2004. Finally, we will examine, step by step, the participation of Greece in the ESA, a small European nation that started, after almost a decade since the recession, to participate gradually in ESA’s initiatives. Greece is used as an example to represent the smaller or less-financially abled European nations that claim a spot at the international space scene. Space in our era is not a distant idea but a broad map of scientific and business opportunities. Space agencies from all over the world try to maintain a current position and achieve scientific firsts. Europe in order to remain o top should keep working on perfecting the relations between the two organizations, ESA and the EU.