Minister for Higher Education and Science
Thierry Breton
Commissioner for Internal Market
European Commission
Dear Commissioner Thierry Breton
Please accept my warmest congratulations on your appointment as Commissioner
for Internal Market and Services and in that capacity responsible for Space.
Denmark strongly supports the European cooperation on space matters based
primarily on Copernicus and Galileo/EGNOS. The new integrated EU Space
Programme will provide an excellent outset for further work in this area.
The EU should continue to reap the benefits from our large investments in
Copernicus, Galileo and EGNOS, by reaching out to the user communities and
industrial capacities. Space plays a key role in a number of important policy areas,
in particular environmental and climate action.
We are approaching a full operational era of European space infrastructure. Now,
the challenge is to fully capitalise from our activities in space while also preparing
for the next generation of European Space infrastructure. We need to explore user
needs and to keep developing relevant services. In different areas of society, there
is great potential in integrating space based solutions, thereby disrupting
traditional business models.
A way to leap forward is to support the evolution of ecosystems and create
platforms for multi-stakeholder collaboration. This goes for the use of all services
based on space components
–
navigation, observation and communication.
In the proposal for the new EU Space Programme, we have agreed on an
objective to implement measures for mitigating space debris within EU space
activities. With this commitment, the EU demonstrates ambition and leadership. I
strongly support that EU takes action and raise our strategic ambitions, in order for
sustainability to become a natural part of the European space policy
In the end, the consequence of not taking action on issues such as space debris
mitigation might be the inability to use important orbits in space. This will have a
deep negative impact for all of us. In this respect, the EU has a unique chance to
show the worldwide space community how to act in a sustainable and responsible
way in space.
Ministry of Higher Education and
Science Denmark
Børsgade 4
P.O. Box 2135
1260 Copenhagen K
Denmark
Phone +45 3392 9700
www.ufm.dk/en
CVR no. 1680 5408
Ref. no.
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