President Jacques Chirac, under fire from European Union officials for shielding French companies from foreign bidders, called on Thursday for greater European cooperation on space projects.
Speaking at Franco-Italian satellite maker Alcatel Alenia Space, a subsidiary of France’s Alcatel and Italy’s Finmeccanica, Chirac said European firms must stick together to keep Europe at the cutting edge of space technology.
“Space must be at the heart of the European project,” said Chirac, who proposed the creation of a Mediterranean center for the prevention of risks using space technology.
Europe should be able to use these systems to monitor global warming and pollution, predict floods and eventually for tracking large meteorites, he said.
The European Commission issued a statement after his speech saying it was already putting together such plans.
Chirac’s calls for European space solidarity come as France faces criticism for its policy of economic patriotism, which aims to protect French firms from foreign takeovers, including from within Europe. France provoked Italian anger last week by brokering the merger of Gaz de France and Suez just days after Italy’s Enel hinted at a takeover of Suez.
EU officials, and those from Britain, Germany and Italy, say France’s stance threatens Europe’s internal market.
La Tribune newspaper reported on Wednesday that Alcatel had obtained the green light from the government to increase its stake in the state-controlled defense group Thales to 25-30 percent from its current 9.5 percent.
Chirac said Europe must do more to collaborate on defense technology but said France would keep some areas for itself. “France must keep control of the most sensitive systems, but there are numerous areas that could be the object of European cooperation,” he said.
Europe is in the embarrassing position of waiting to hitch a ride into space from the United States for a $1.2 billion laboratory that has been stuck on Earth for two years. The space shuttle is the only vehicle with the capacity to take the laboratory into space.
Chirac noted that the United States spends six times more of its public funds than Europe on developing space programs.
Just hours after Chirac’s speech, European authorities once again delayed the launch of a heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket carrying two satellites. The launch, from the European Space Agency's complex in French Guiana, had been postponed twice already this year due to technical faults.
The rocket is to launch Spainsat, a Spanish military communications satellite, and Hot Bird 7A for the Paris-based telecommunication operator Eutelsat. Hot Bird 7A was built by Alcatel Alenia Space.
The maiden flight of the heavy-lift version of the Ariane 5 ended in disaster in 2002 when it veered off course over the Atlantic Ocean. After modifications, the rocket was successfully launched twice in 2005.
