Space defense, European sovereignty... Macron-Le Pen, a duel that passes through the firmament

A few months apart, the French space and the election of the President of the Republic by direct universal suffrage are the same age: 60 years old. At the origin, we also find the same man: General de Gaulle. Perhaps it is his vision that means that from alternating to alternating, all the presidents who succeeded each other at the Elysée have supported a spatial policy of continuity, whether they claim to be Gaullist or not.

As a result, space is rarely discriminating between candidates for the highest office. All tend to come together for the pursuit of activities. The main differences are in the nuances and the place they give it in their program.

This year, the outgoing president can show a substantial balance sheet. Emmanuel Macron will remain as the one who extracted the space sector from his ministerial niche between Research and Defense, placing it under the supervision of Bercy to strengthen the industrial aspects. This makes it possible to discuss on an equal footing with the German coordinator of aerospace policy, also dependent on the same ministry. This is what helped to negotiate step by step with Berlin and Rome on the future of the Ariane 6 and Vega launcher families and to stem the German push on microlaunchers.

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Macron and the idea of European space sovereignty

Previously, in July 2019, Florence Parly, Minister of the Armed Forces, had presented the first French space defense strategy with the creation of a large space command (CDE), currently being set up in Toulouse.

On February 16, as part of the French presidency of the European Union, Emmanuel Macron came to Toulouse during a space summit bringing together the Twenty-Seven under the chairmanship of Bruno Le Maire. On the agenda: the political kick-off to Thierry Breton’s constellation project for European secure telecommunications, the strengthening of the European space surveillance infrastructure with a view to controlling orbital traffic, go.

He had even undertaken a European reflection on the possibility of an autonomous capacity to send our astronauts into space. In short, he had laid down the framework of a European space sovereignty, very “Gaullian” in spirit, to ensure that the sky did not become the prerogative of the Americans and Chinese alone.

The Elysée and Bercy have also implemented the post-Covid-19 recovery plan and the France 2030 investment plan, in order to put the industry back on track after the crisis. Space had its own chapters there, for more than 2 billion euros, with the support given to innovation and initiatives in favor of start-ups in the New Spacein particular concerning launchers, the objective being to have a reusable micro-launcher before the end of the next five-year period.

Space, a simple tool of Le Pen’s other policies

Difficult for Marine Le Pen to compete with the voluntarism displayed by the outgoing team, especially with a program focused on the working classes, often little aware of what space brings them on a daily basis. Contrary to the special treatment reserved for her by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the president of the National Rally only makes it a tool of her other policies, mainly in the field of Defence, where she is pushed to one-upmanship to reassert sovereignty. French in the face of its rival’s European projects, but does not really manage to differentiate itself from them.

As part of the revision of the military programming law, to give France the largest defense budget in Europe, it emphasizes an increase in space intelligence capabilities and the means to defend them (measures already cited in the current strategy). She believes that France will have to have all the means of action in space: satellites, reusable launchers… and space plane! In addition, the Ariane sector, linked to deterrence, will have to be particularly supported, and its access to commercial markets ensured.

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And that’s about all, because one will look in vain in the 19 thematic booklets or the 22 proposals of the candidate for a draft industrial policy or scientific research in which a space component could appear. The vote on April 24 will therefore not be decided in space, but the place of space in government priorities will perhaps be decided in the ballot box.