Enlargement of the European Space Agency

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The European Space Agency (ESA) in its current form was founded in 1975 when the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) merged with the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO). The ESA Convention was signed by the ESRO and ELDO members on 30 May 1975 and by Ireland on 31 December 1975. Canada signed the ESA Convention as an associate member on 9 December 1978. The Convention entered into force on 30 October 1980 after the ratification procedures in the 10 ESRO/ELDO members were finalised.

Organization Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands United Kingdom Spain Switzerland Sweden Denmark Australia Ireland Austria Canada
ESRO member member member member member member member member member member
ELDO member member member member member member associate member
ESA in 1980 member member member member member member member member member member member associate member associate member
File:ESA, ESRO, ELDO.png
ESA initial members and associates in 1980
  ELDO, ESRO and ESA 1980 members
  ESRO and ESA 1980 members
  ESA 1980 members

  ELDO associate members
  ESA 1980 associate members

Membership

The current membership of the European Space Agency includes 21 member states and one associate member as follows:

esa  Founding members[1] ESA Convention signature Ratification[2] National Program
 Sweden 30 May 1975 6 April 1976 SNSB
  Switzerland 30 May 1975 19 November 1976 SSO
 Germany 30 May 1975 26 July 1977 DLR
 Denmark 30 May 1975 15 September 1977 DNSC
 Italy 30 May 1975 20 February 1978 ASI
 United Kingdom 30 May 1975 28 March 1978 BNSC
 Belgium 30 May 1975 3 October 1978 BIRA
 Netherlands 30 May 1975 6 February 1979 SRON
 Spain 30 May 1975 7 February 1979 INTA
 France 30 May 1975 30 October 1980 CNES
 Ireland[3] 31 December 1975 10 December 1980 SI
Associate members[4] Signature Entry into force National Program
 Canada 9 December 1978[5] 1 January 1979 CSA
ESA Convention entry into force: 30 October 1980
Acceded members [6] ESA Convention signature ESA membership[2] National Program
 Austria 12 April 1984[7] 30 December 1986 ASA
 Norway 12 December 1985[8] 30 December 1986 NSC
 Finland 22 March 1994[9] 1 January 1995 TEKES
 Portugal 4 October 2000[10] 14 November 2000 CEP
 Greece 19 July 2004[11] 9 March 2005 ISARS
 Luxembourg 6 May 2004[12] 30 June 2005 through MoHER
 Czech Republic 8 July 2008[13] 12 August 2008 CSO
 Romania 20 January 2011[14] 23 December 2011 ROSA
 Poland 13 September 2012[15] 19 November 2012 CBK-PAN
 Estonia 4 February 2015 1 September 2015[16] EAS
 Hungary 24 February 2015 4 November 2015[17] HSO

Associate members

The ESA Convention does not require acquisition of the status of an associate member in order for a state to become a full member. The association status is envisaged to allow associate member states to take part in ESA's deliberative bodies and decision-making and also in ESA's programmes and activities. Associate member state firms can bid for and receive contracts to work on programmes. The accord has a provision ensuring a fair industrial return to the associate members.[18][19]

Previously, associate members were Austria, Norway and Finland (through its Ministry of Trade and Industry[20]), all of which later joined ESA as full members.[6] Portugal, Greece and Luxembourg skipped associate membership and moved from Cooperation Agreements to full ESA membership. The Czech Republic also skipped associate membership, but it went through the new enlargement process via Cooperation Agreement, ECS Agreement and PECS Charter implementation.

Currently the only associate member of ESA is Canada.[4]

Despite that the provisions in the ESA Convention do not show restrictions that only European states can join,[1] the ESA Council implements such rule de facto and that is why Canada has only the status of associate member.[4] However, it is as tightly integrated with the ESA institutions as possible for a non-member state.

The ELDO associate member Australia (CSIRO) decided not to continue as an associate member of ESA. Nevertheless, on 5 March 2003 the first of ESA's deep space ground stations in the world opened in Western Australia in an inauguration ceremony.[21]

Enlargement

  ESA member countries
  2nd stage: ECS states
  1st stage: signed Cooperation Agreement
  Observer state negotiating cooperation agreement
  ESA associate members

After the decision of the ESA Council of 21/22 March 2001 the procedure for accession of the European states was detailed as described here.[22] Nations who want to become a full member of ESA do so in 3 stages. First a Cooperation Agreement is signed between the country and ESA. In this stage the country has very limited financial responsibilities. If a country wants to cooperate more fully with ESA it signs a European Cooperating State (ECS) agreement.

The ECS Agreement makes companies based in the country eligible for participation in ESA procurements. The country can also participate in all ESA programmes, except for the Basic Technology Research Programme. While the financial contribution of the country concerned increases, it is still much lower than that of a full member state. The agreement is normally followed by a Plan for European Cooperating State (or PECS Charter).

This is a 5-year program of basic research and development activities aimed at improving the nations' space industry capacity. At the end of the 5-year period, the country can either begin negotiations to become a full member state or an associated state or sign a new PECS Charter.[23] ESA is likely to expand quite rapidly in the coming years. Many countries, most of which joined the EU in both 2004 and 2007, have started to cooperate with ESA on various levels.

Completed enlargements


Applicant state Cooperation Agreement ECS Agreement PECS Charter ESA Convention signature Full Membership[24] National Program
 Austria 1979 for associate membership 12 April 1984 30 December 1986 ASA
 Norway 1981 for associate membership 12 December 1985 30 December 1986 NSC
 Finland 1987 for associate membership 22 March 1994 1 January 1995 TEKES
 Portugal 1996 NA NA 4 October 2000 14 November 2000 CEP
 Greece January 2001 NA NA 19 July 2004 9 March 2005 ISARS
 Luxembourg September 2000 NA NA 6 May 2004 30 June 2005 through MoHER
 Czech Republic 1996 24 November 2003 24 November 2004 8 July 2008 12 August 2008 CSO
 Romania December 1992[25][26] 17 February 2006[26] 16 February 2007[27] 20 January 2011[28][29] 23 December 2011[30] ROSA
 Poland 28 January 1994[25] 27 April 2007[31] 28 April 2008[32] 13 September 2012 [33] 19 November 2012[34] CBK-PAN
 Estonia 20 June 2007[35] 10 November 2009[36] 22 September 2010[37] 4 February 2015[38] 1 September 2015[39] EAS[40][41]
 Hungary April 1991[42][25] 7 April 2003[43] 1st: 5 November 2003[44]
2nd: 26 September 2008[45]
3rd: 17 October 2013[46]		 24 February 2015[47] 4 November 2015[48] HSO

Current progress

Applicant state Cooperation Agreement ECS Agreement PECS Charter(s) National Programme
 Turkey 15 July 2004[49] TÜBİTAK UZAY
 Ukraine 25 January 2008[50] SSAU
 Slovenia 28 May 2008[51] 22 January 2010[52] 30 November 2010[53] through MoHEST
 Latvia 23 July 2009[54] 19 March 2013[55] 30 January 2015[56] through MoES
 Cyprus 27 August 2009[57] through MoCW
 Slovakia 28 April 2010[58] 16 February 2015[59] through MoE
 Lithuania 7 October 2010[60] 10 October 2014[61] LSA[62][63]
 Israel 30 January 2011[64] ISA
 Malta 20 February 2012[65] MCST[66]
 Bulgaria NA 8 April 2015[67] SRTI

Possible future cooperation

The political perspective of the European Union (EU) had been to make ESA an agency of the EU by 2014,[68] however, this date was not met. The EU is already the largest single donor to ESA's budget and non-ESA EU states are observers at ESA.

The only EU member state that has not signed any agreement with ESA is Croatia. In December 2014, the ESA Ministerial Council authorized officials to begin discussions to establish a formal cooperation with Croatia. Three non-EU nations — Israel, Turkey and Ukraine — have cooperation agreements with ESA. Agency officials consider the prospects of full membership for these three countries as remote at the current time. However, ESA ministers instructed agency officials to begin discussions with Australia, Israel and South Africa on future association agreements with ESA. The ministers noted that “concrete cooperation is at an advanced stage” with these nations and that “prospects for mutual benefits are existing”.[69]

Besides EU countries, the EFTA members Norway and Switzerland are also members of ESA. Neither the remaining EFTA member states of Iceland and Liechtenstein nor the EU candidates not listed above have publicly expressed their intention to participate in the European Space Agency's activities.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 ESA Convention
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Law_at_ESA/ESA_Convention
  3. ↑ Ireland is considered initial signatory, but since it was not member of neither ESRO nor ELDO (the precursor organisations to ESA) the convention entered into force when the last of the other 10 founders ratified it.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Canada and ESA: Three Decades of Cooperation
  5. ↑ Canada and ESA: 20 Years of Cooperation
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Enlargement of ESA
  7. ↑ http://download.esa.int/docs/LEX-L/ESA-Ratification-acts/Austria_(30_Dec_1986).pdf
  8. ↑ http://download.esa.int/docs/LEX-L/ESA-Ratification-acts/Norway_(30_Dec_1986).pdf
  9. ↑ http://download.esa.int/docs/LEX-L/ESA-Ratification-acts/Finland_(1_Jan_1995).pdf
  10. ↑ http://download.esa.int/docs/LEX-L/ESA-Ratification-acts/Portugal_(14_Nov_2000).pdf
  11. ↑ http://download.esa.int/docs/LEX-L/ESA-Ratification-acts/Greece_(9_March_2005).pdf
  12. ↑ http://download.esa.int/docs/LEX-L/ESA-Ratification-acts/Luxembourg_(30_June_2005).pdf
  13. ↑ http://download.esa.int/docs/LEX-L/ESA-Ratification-acts/Ratification_Czech-Republic.pdf
  14. ↑ http://download.esa.int/docs/LEX-L/ESA-Ratification-acts/Ratification_Romania.pdf
  15. ↑ http://download.esa.int/docs/LEX-L/ESA-Ratification-acts/Ratification_Poland.pdf
  16. ↑ http://www.eas.ee/kosmos/en/estonian-space-office/news/article/460-estonia-is-full-member-of-esa-from-1-of-september-2015
  17. ↑ http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/Hungary_becomes_ESA_s_22nd_Member_State
  18. ↑ Esa Press release 21 June 2000
  19. ↑ ESA and Canada long term partnership ESA to participate in Canadian programmes and vice versa.
  20. ↑ http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-44557417.html
  21. ↑ http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMACK2A6BD_index_0.html
  22. ↑ The Plan for European Co-operating States (PECS)
  23. ↑ PECS: General Overview
  24. ↑ http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Law_at_ESA/ESA_Convention
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "polandCA" defined multiple times with different content
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Actmedia.eu - Romania is to sign agreement on joining European Space Agency Convention
  29. ↑ esa.int - Romania accedes to ESA Convention
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  33. ↑ http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=38535
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ http://www.eas.ee/kosmos/en/estonian-space-office/news/article/460-estonia-is-full-member-of-esa-from-1-of-september-2015
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/Hungary_accedes_to_ESA_Convention2
  48. ↑ http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/Hungary_becomes_ESA_s_22nd_Member_State
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  56. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  57. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  58. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  59. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  60. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  61. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  62. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  63. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  64. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  65. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  66. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  67. ↑ http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/Bulgaria_becomes_tenth_ESA_European_Cooperating_State
  68. ↑ http://www.esa.int/esapub/br/br268/br268.pdf
  69. ↑ http://www.parabolicarc.com/2015/04/13/55053/
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