Prague: The Commission’s plan for an EU Space Services Agency would give the Prague-based EUSPA its own founding regulation, a permanent mandate and a much larger budget. The proposal, published on 7 April 2026 as COM(2026) 152 under procedure 2026/0084(COD), now sits with the European Parliament and the Council under the ordinary legislative procedure.

The new EU Space Services Agency would keep the EUSPA acronym but change its name from the European Union Agency for the Space Programme to the European Union Space Services Agency. Its seat stays in Prague. The Commission links the file to the draft EU Space Act, which it proposed on 25 June 2025, and the two texts are meant to work together.

Money is the clearest signal of ambition for the EU Space Services Agency. The Union contribution would rise from EUR 525.7 million for 2021 to 2027 to EUR 979.6 million for 2028 to 2034, a near doubling. The proposal also allows the agency to charge fees for services, with the legal basis for those fees to be set in the EU Space Act. The new regulation is intended to apply from 1 January 2028.

The proposal sorts the agency’s work into three groups. Its own tasks include security accreditation, operational security for navigation and Earth observation systems, and space security monitoring. Tasks delegated by the Commission cover the exploitation of Galileo navigation services, the GOVSATCOM hub, downstream market development and duties under the EU Space Act. A third group would pass to the agency once it is operationally ready, including governmental services of IRIS², space weather, space surveillance and tracking, and radio-frequency interference monitoring.

Crisis powers stand out. Once a crisis is declared, the executive director of the EU Space Services Agency could impose operational measures, and member state staff could be deployed for up to two years. The Security Accreditation Board would be able to approve a whole constellation in one decision, and the Commission could ask for a ruling within three months, with silence treated as consent.

Industry will read these provisions on the EU Space Services Agency closely. A single approval for a constellation could shorten the time that satellite operators wait for security clearance, while the fee provisions raise questions about who pays for services that are now free. The agency would also support the space commercialisation component of the programme, including the CASSINI initiative.

Legislators have not yet settled their positions. Substantive deliberations were expected in the second half of 2026, and trilogue talks would follow. The timetable is tight, because the regulation must be in place before the next multiannual budget period begins in 2028.

For governments and companies, the outcome will define who runs Europe’s space infrastructure for the next decade. If Parliament and the Council accept the Commission’s logic, the EU Space Services Agency will move from a programme manager to a standing operator with security, market and crisis responsibilities, and Prague will become a more powerful node in European space policy.