Brussels in late September is a city of closed doors and long agendas, and the week of the 22nd was a crowded one. In one room, European affairs ministers were due to argue about money for the years 2028-2034. Two days later, in another, industry ministers turned to semiconductors. Across town, the Commission was asking how a continent that builds fine satellites can get them into orbit.
Budget, rule of law and an October summit
The General Affairs Council, scheduled for September 22, had the long-term budget first on its list: ministers were to debate the Multiannual Financial Framework that will follow the current one. Talks on the October European Council also began there. The Commission was set to deliver a letter of intent, and ministers expected to swap views on what the EU legislates in 2027.
Rule of law stayed on the table. Under the annual dialogue, ministers were scheduled to hold a general discussion on the state of the rule of law across the Union and to compare notes on the trend in selected candidate countries.
Chips and mergers
The Competitiveness Council followed on September 24. Ministers for the internal market and industry had two debates ahead, one on Chips Act 2.0 and one on rewriting the merger control guidelines. Briefings on pending proposals were also planned, covering the European competitiveness fund, the 28th regime and an industrial accelerator act.
The problem of getting to orbit
On September 23 the Commission staged its second conference on access to space, in Brussels under the title “Ready to Launch: From Policy to Orbit.” Andrius Kubilius, the commissioner for defence and space, opened with a blunt line: “No rockets, no access to space, no future in space.”
The figures he and his colleagues worked from explain the urgency. The Union alone is projected to need 62 launches by 2034, serving programmes such as Copernicus, Galileo and IRIS2. Supply does not always keep up. Ariane flies 10 times a year on current plans, but the need reaches 14 in 2031. Vega is slated for 6 a year, and 8 will be wanted in 2030. The European Space Agency’s 2026 report adds a comparison. Ranked by the mass it put up for government missions in 2025, Europe came fourth. In public spending on space it came third, with 11% of the global total, while the United States accounts for 58% and China 15%.
Kubilius pointed to recent European successes, among them Ariane 64’s maiden flight, and Isar Aerospace’s launch from Norway, the first commercial one from continental Europe. Weeks earlier, on August 27, an Ariane 6 rocket lifted the MTG-I2 satellite out of French Guiana, the first time that launcher flew to geostationary transfer orbit. Looking ahead, he suggested that launch sites in Europe might have to link up and pool services, much as airports do, if the number of flights is to rise. Newer companies, he added, need test and qualification facilities to grow. He also announced an “access to space tour” of launch sites and factories.
Christoph Kautz, the Commission official in charge of space policy and Earth observation, described the balances that the joint 20-year plan for European launchers requires, from competition against cooperation to private against public funding. Getting there, he said, depends on governments, EU bodies and ESA working closely with industry.
Sources
- Forward look: 14 – 27 September 2026 (PubAffairs Bruxelles, republishing European Council schedule)
- OBSERVER: Second EU Access to Space conference maps a path from policy to orbit (EU Agency for the Space Programme)
