Dear friends!
Recent documents and communications from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission leave no doubt: in parallel to creating a European Security and Defense Program, Europe also prepares for an increased use of space for military purposes. This is not to be ignored.
Below, you will find a short article with some details. In addition, a "European" section has been created on the
website http://www.space4peace.org, the site of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. There, you will find links to several of the relevant key documents as well as a draft letter to ESA President Edelgard Bulmahn. She is the German Minister for Research and Education and will hold the ESA office for the next two years. Some of the documents are available in English and German. On the website of the European Union, you will also find versions of the official EU documents in the other European languages.
Please, use the letter - either as-is or in any other way you think appropriate - to support our efforts to prevent a European militarization of space. If you want the WinWord file of the letter or the text in a mail body to modify it for your own purposes, send me mail.
If you publish a newsletter or magazin and want to inform your readers about this, contact me. Provided I find enough time, I am willing to write articles.
Feel free to forward this mail.
In peace
Regina Hagen
Darmstaedter Friedensforum and
Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
The European Space Agency expansion to militarism From Regina Hagen and Bruce Gagnon of The Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and Dave Webb from Yorkshire CND
When reading the following, please remember:
The EU was upset with the U.S. over the war with Yugoslavia.
The U.S. withheld vital military reconnaissance information from the EU in that war in order to stay in control of the military operation.
This angered the EU and these new developments are partly a result of them wanting their own space capability.
INFORMATION
This week, the European Space Agency (ESA) released a report from the So called "three wise men" who had been asked to think about the future of ESA and ESA strategy in the light of the expansion of the European Union.
ESA and the European Council published a joint strategy paper on the role of space for Europe.
The main conclusions are:
ESA should be expanded to act as the sole agency for all European space endeavours.
The European Council should become the body to define the European Space Policy and the guidelines for its implementation.
The European Commission should define the regulatory framework under which space activities are conducted and be a member of the ESA Council.
"The European Parliament should be given the opportunity to regularly discuss and review the European Space Policy." Note: the EP is not meant to control ESA and European space policy.
This should be viewed in the light of the Eastern expansion of the European Union and the move towards a joint European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). Just this week, the Western European Union - the "military" arm of SOME of the EU member states - ceased to exist. From now on, the EU is responsible for security and defense - including out-of-area missions and ensuring that the "interests" of Europe and European citizens are secured.
The "wise men report" and other recent EU and ESA papers explicitly point to the fact that dual-use is inherent to all space technology. Moreover, it is suggested explicitly that use should be made of this, and:
"We thus see it as logical to use the capabilities of ESA also for the development of the more security-oriented aspects of the European Space Policy".
So far, the ESA statute limits its activities to peaceful purposes. In this context, the report says:
"As the efforts of the European Union in these fields are geared to the so-called Petersburg tasks of peace strengthening in the form of conflict prevention and crisis management, including civil and environmental emergencies, we do not see any problem with the Convention of ESA."
The war in Kosovo was considered a "civil emergency" and Europe has since decided that it no longer wants to depend on US systems for observation, navigation, etc. for military use.
The quote also combines environmental emergencies and "wider" security. Perhaps Europe is already be making plans for when continued environmental degradation and resource conflicts become more important... The report goes on:
"Embarking on development of a European defence system including also a space component will also provide a significant part of European public investment that is missing today compared with the US."
"Increasingly, we see the space infrastructure necessary for commercial and other public sector applications moving together with those necessary for different security needs".
These are related to earth observation (the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security - GMES - program), telecommunication and navagiation (the European GPS system - GALILEO). With respect to GALILEO, the report says:
"It should be recalled that GPS is a US military funded and controlled system, incorporating in particular the capability of selective shutdowns over certain areas in times of conflict. Galileo should have a similar capability, which in turn would imply suitable mechanisms for taking such decisions"
The "wise men" clearly position Europe as THE counterpart and "equal partner" of the US in terms of the strategic goals of "dominance in space" and "information superiority".
"By developing its own infrastructure, Europe will ... PREVENT OTHER COMPETITORS (from Asia in particular) FROM DEVELOPING THEIR OWN INFRASTRUCTRE. By doing that Europe will become the alternative to the US for the world, will consolidate its number 2 position in space and will therefore be able to become a privileged partner on global issiues and large-scale international developments."
(Emphasis added)
It is also clear that, like NASA, science and manned missions are needed to get public acceptance of the space programs:
"Science and manned spaceflights are and will remain important parts of space activities, contributing to the public awareness of space programmes as a whole".