Paris,  6 June– The WEU Assembly on Wednesday came out in favour of increased cooperation between the European and Russian aerospace industries “to ensure that the basis of aerospace cooperation between [them] is not simply economic, but also political, strategic and technological”.

In his report submitted on behalf of the Technological and Aerospace Committee, Mr Jean-Marie Le Guen (France/Soc) makes the point that “although Russia’s interest in cooperation is primarily financial and economic (…) very broad common interests provide a basis for the development of space cooperation between Europe and Russia”. He advances the view that such cooperation could form “part and parcel of the refocusing of Russia’s foreign and security policy on Europe” and provide “an alternative to exclusive ties with the United States”. Europe for its part “can benefit from the breadth of technological know-how Russia has gained in areas such as propulsion”, Mr Le Guen added. The Rapporteur felt that serious consideration should be given to Russia’s offer of cooperation with a view to “setting up a pan-European non-strategic missile defence system that might provide Europeans and Russians with a framework for global cooperation”.

As part of a series of recommendations the Assembly advocated identifying the part Russian industry can play in regard to the Galileo programme to accelerate the process for initiating cooperation with a number of Russian research institutes specialising in space observation for the purposes of environmental protection. It hopes furthermore that the WEU member states which are also members of the European Space Agency (ESA) will endeavour to ensure that “an agreement is reached as soon as possible to allow Russia to use the Kourou launch base for Soyuz launches”.

Lastly the Assembly hoped that Russia would “abolish the legislative and administrative constraints (…) which are holding back programmes and hindering cooperation that is of mutual benefit”.