It’s high time for a Space Commissioner!

As the competition to secure the economic and strategic benefits of space intensifies, Europe cannot afford to be sidelined. With the reshuffle of the European Union’s top jobs later this year, appointing a Space Commissioner would be a powerful signal, writes Arthur de Liedekerke.

Arthur de Liedekerke is the senior director for European Affairs at Rasmussen Global, the political advisory firm of former NATO Secretary General and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

In a few months, the next President of the European Union’s executive will put forward a new cohort of Commissioners. This will inevitably lead to adjustments in titles – possibly broader reshuffles in portfolios. 

While this may sound trivial, these are far more than cosmetic changes: they send a message. In 2019, the job description of Greek nominee Margaritis Schinas, “Protecting our European way of life”, caused serious controversy, with critics slamming the name as pandering to the far right. It was ultimately rebranded to “Promoting our European way of life”.

More generally, the titles proposed by President von der Leyen for her incoming team effectively scrambled positions and responsibilities to focus far more on policy themes than on mirroring the Commission’s departments.

And there is no reason to believe things will be any different for the future College (as the group of 27 Commissioners is known in EU parlance) where political priorities will be reflected in portfolio names. 

Against this backdrop, European leaders should seriously consider appointing a Space Commissioner. Indeed, the continent is in acute danger of being a spectator in the global space race. A race that has only accelerated in recent months.

Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine has turned space into a priority for governments across the world. Events there and in other conflicts, such as between Israel and Hamas, underline the growing importance of space-generated imagery and connectivity to modern warfare. 

Spacefaring nations have taken notice and sought to expand existing programs and resources. Newer actors have accelerated efforts to develop their own capabilities. In August 2023, India became just the fourth country to stage a soft landing on the moon, when the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully alighted on the lunar south pole.

In the meantime, delays with heavy launcher Ariane 6 and problems with the smaller Vega-C, have left Europe without autonomous access to space. On a commercial level, if ten years ago Europe had approximately 50% of the launch market, today it has been edged out by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its partly reusable rockets. 

And while the latest European Space Agency (ESA) ministerial council in 2022 agreed to increase the organisation’s budget to €16.9 billion over the next five years (a 17% increase), these figures pale in comparison to the US’s NASA, which spent €24 billion in 2023 alone.

It’s not just budgets and capabilities. There is also a very real brain-drain of talent and an increasing amount of European industry actors being acquired by foreign businesses, as highlighted by ESA’s “Revolution Space” report. 

So, how exactly would a European Space Commissioner change this bleak situation? 

First, it will send the right political signal. Internationally, to our partners and competitors, that the continent intends to be an ambitious player; it will be a symbol of the EU’s desire to (re)capture shares of a global space economy whose value is predicted to reach €1 trillion before 2040. 

To a domestic audience too, this would be an important move. It will demonstrate member states’s resolve to cooperate more and work on longstanding disagreements in the face of serious challenges.

From citizens to industry, it should reassure stakeholders that authorities have grasped the importance of investing in space-related assets and technologies; of how dependent our societies are on the satellites that orbit Earth to combat climate change or provide communications to remote areas. 

Second, the next Commission mandate will be an incredibly busy one on the space front. From driving forward the proposal for a European Union Space Law (EUSL), to steering plans for a satellite constellation, known as IRIS², and budgetary negotiations for the next EU space programme starting in 2028, a specialised space portfolio wouldn’t go amiss. 

And we cannot afford to get it wrong on these files. Take the EUSL for instance: much like the GDPR, it has the potential to be a pioneering piece of legislation that seeks to guarantee a genuine level playing field in space while seeking to protect fragile orbital resources in an increasingly crowded environment.

The same goes for IRIS² where simmering tensions between Berlin and Brussels threaten to derail the multi-billion European alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink communications network.

Last, a Space Commissioner would be an influential tool of (business) diplomacy.

Already, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, responsible for this domain, has done a lot to place the bloc’s space interests at the forefront of international political consciousness. A dedicated space representative could further promote European capabilities and innovation and encourage foreign investments in Europe.

A European Space Commissioner certainly isn’t a silver bullet – far from it. It’s also likely to ruffle a few feathers given sensitive questions around sovereignty and national security. But it would be a powerful signal that the EU does not intend to be left out of the global space race.