Paris, 20 May 2010 - The Technological and Aerospace Committee of the European Security and Defence Assembly, meeting today in Paris, discussed draft reports and voted three preliminary draft recommendations on the following subjects:

“The transatlantic defence equipment market”
Chairman and Rapporteur: Mr Axel FISCHER (Germany, EPP/CD Group)
“Considering that transatlantic relations in the field of security and defence remain one of the pillars of peace and stability in Europe”; “considering the importance of the economic dimension of transatlantic relations, in the form of the large volume of trade and reciprocal investment”; “stressing that the United States and Europe today remain the largest and most highly developed markets in terms of investment, spending, R&T, production and procurement”, the Assembly recommends pursuing “efforts at national and multilateral level and within the European Defence Agency and NATO to strengthen the European defence technological and industrial base”.

“Military aspects of space: early warning and ELINT satellites – reply to the annual report of the Council”
Rapporteur: Mr Yves POZZO DI BORGO (France, EPP/CD Group)
In the preliminary draft recommendation, the Assembly recommends that members of the European Union should “encourage a process of reflection within the appropriate structures, in particular the Political and Security Committee (PSC) and the European Defence Agency (EDA) on Europe’s requirements and capabilities in the military space sector, in particular in the fields of early warning and electromagnetic intelligence (ELINT)”. Bearing in mind that “cooperation, particularly in the defence sector, is vital for the future of space activities in Europe”, the Assembly also recommends involving “the general public to an even greater degree in the European space effort which is a source of progress and would appear to be the best answer we have in the face of a future characterised by diminishing natural resources and inevitable climate change”. The creation of an early warning and electromagnetic intelligence capability also “constitutes a major and necessary step towards giving Europe strategic autonomy in the field of proliferation control of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems”.

“European security and space debris”
Rapporteur: Mr Edward O’HARA (United Kingdom, Socialist Group)
“Considering that the existence of debris produced by human activity in space constitutes a very great risk to the security of space installations and access to space and is therefore a source of extreme concern”; “noting that according to the most recent estimates there are in orbit some 15 000 objects measuring more than 10 centimetres, some 300 000 measuring from one to 10 centimetres and more than 135 million measuring less than one centimetre”, and “noting that the greatest concentration of objects is to be found in the orbits where human space activity is greatest – low earth orbit (LEO) and geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO)”, the Assembly recommends that the WEU and EU Councils and the member states of the European Space Agency (ESA) should “ensure that any guidelines adopted in the ESA and Inter-Agency Debris Committee (IADC) frameworks are fully respected”; “pay special attention to monitoring space debris and ensure that ESA’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) project continues beyond the preparatory stage” and “ensure that the EU Satellite Centre has wide responsibility in this sphere and that its budget is commensurate with such responsibility”.

If you wish to attend the debate on these three reports and the vote on the draft recommendations at the Assembly’s forthcoming plenary session to be held at the Palais d’Iéna, Paris, from 15 to 17 June, please contact Assembly Press Counsellor, Corine Caballero-Bourdot, (ccaballero@assembly.weu.int).