Czech Republic
Accedes To The ESA Convention
(8 July 2008) The Agreement on the
Czech Republic's accession to the ESA Convention was signed on 8 July in
Prague, by Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA, and Mirek
Topolánek, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic.
The
Czech Republic already has a strong tradition of space exploration. For
example, Vladimir Remek of Czechoslovakia became the first European astronaut
when he went into space in 1978.
Since the early 1990s, ESA has
negotiated and concluded framework co-operation agreements with a number of
central and eastern European countries. The Czech Republic signed such a
Co-operation Agreement with ESA in 1996, requesting more specific
collaboration.
In response, the ESA Council created the status of
'European Co-operating State' in March 2001. The ECS was a new status granted
to European Union Member States wishing to accede to the ESA Convention. ESA
concluded an ECS Agreement with the Czech Republic in November 2003; it entered
into force with the signing of the PECS (Plan for European Co-operating States)
Charter in November 2004.
During the first four-year period, the overall
contribution to the PECS by the Czech Republic amounted to approximately
€12 million. This Czech contribution goes towards projects that come under
various ESA programmes: 50% on space science, 25% on space technology, 22% on
Earth observation and 3% on navigation.
The Czech Republic is now
embarking on the ratification procedure that will make it a formal ESA Member
State by the end of the year.
With the accession of the Czech Republic,
ESA and its Member States are together extending the boundaries of space even
further to take in new countries and new ambitions. Such ambitions are firmly
rooted in forty years of success in space, thanks in particular to the
continuous investment by ESA Member States and to the increasing co-operation
between the European Community and ESA. The consensus reached by 29 European
countries in support of the European Space Policy adopted in May last year also
demonstrates that Europe and its citizens are prepared to play a stronger role
in space.
(source: ESA)
