October 12, 2026

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The European Post

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October 12, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
Social Security Coordination Reform Clears The Council After A DecadeCreative Europe 2027 Budget Sets €402 Million For Final YearNature Restoration Plans Reach Brussels As Review Clock StartsBerlin Sudan Aid Pledges Now Face A Delivery TestLebanon Tranche Ties EU Support For Lebanon To Reform GoalsLeaving The Parental Home Now Takes Until 26.3 Across The EUDigital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before Q4 DraftSatellite Operators Await The EU Space Act TriloguesCeuta Crisis Hangs Over Leaders Debate On Irregular Border CrossingsTen Warships Needed For Operation Aspides As Foreign Ministers MeetAmbassadors Weigh Digital Omnibus Cookie Rules On Sunday VoteHousing Exclusion Recommendation Heads To MinistersCapital Markets Supervision Package Wins A Council PositionPanama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In ReviewSixteen Capitals Run Late On The Consumer Credit Directive DeadlineBuilding Renovation Plans Leave Nine Capitals Facing EU Legal ActionEU-China Hybrid Car Deal Leaves Leaders To Judge Beijing’s OfferSwitzerland-EU Treaty Package Faces A Cantonal Majority Test In 2027Hybrid Threats Draw The EU Partnership Mission In ArmeniaFarm Quotas Hinge On The EU-Mercosur Interim Trade AgreementSocial Security Coordination Reform Clears The Council After A DecadeCreative Europe 2027 Budget Sets €402 Million For Final YearNature Restoration Plans Reach Brussels As Review Clock StartsBerlin Sudan Aid Pledges Now Face A Delivery TestLebanon Tranche Ties EU Support For Lebanon To Reform GoalsLeaving The Parental Home Now Takes Until 26.3 Across The EUDigital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before Q4 DraftSatellite Operators Await The EU Space Act TriloguesCeuta Crisis Hangs Over Leaders Debate On Irregular Border CrossingsTen Warships Needed For Operation Aspides As Foreign Ministers MeetAmbassadors Weigh Digital Omnibus Cookie Rules On Sunday VoteHousing Exclusion Recommendation Heads To MinistersCapital Markets Supervision Package Wins A Council PositionPanama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In ReviewSixteen Capitals Run Late On The Consumer Credit Directive DeadlineBuilding Renovation Plans Leave Nine Capitals Facing EU Legal ActionEU-China Hybrid Car Deal Leaves Leaders To Judge Beijing’s OfferSwitzerland-EU Treaty Package Faces A Cantonal Majority Test In 2027Hybrid Threats Draw The EU Partnership Mission In ArmeniaFarm Quotas Hinge On The EU-Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement

Orbit Rules Split Capitals Over The EU Space Act

Virgilijus Alekna
Research Director, Space Policy

The EU Space Act is the Union’s first attempt at a comprehensive law for satellites, launchers and the companies that operate them, and the Council talks show how hard it is to harmonise rules where national security begins. The Commission published its proposal for a Regulation on the Safety, Resilience and Sustainability of Space Activities in the Union on 25 June 2025. As of mid-2026 the European Parliament has not adopted its first-reading position, and member states are still working from presidency compromise texts.

Where the EU Space Act negotiations stand

The Danish Presidency circulated a compromise text in December 2025, and the Cyprus Presidency followed with a revised version in March 2026. Neither is a final Council position. Both suggest that member states broadly back a common framework built on three pillars, safety, resilience and sustainability, but want fewer unnecessary burdens and a more pragmatic model than the Commission first proposed.

The delay has a cost. Operators of constellations and launch services need to know which authorisation regime will apply when they plan satellites that fly for a decade or more. Until Council fixes a mandate and Parliament adopts its report, investment decisions rest on a draft that keeps changing.

Successive drafts have simplified definitions and removed ambiguities. That is normal for a first-of-its-kind regulation, yet it also signals that the final text may look quite different from the original.

National security and spaceports divide capitals

The sharpest dispute concerns scope. Some governments object to provisions that could reach military, dual-use or wider security activities. The presidency texts try to separate commercial activity, which the EU would regulate, from defence and security activity, which would remain mainly national.

Behind the technical language lies a simple trade-off. Harmonisation lowers costs for firms that sell across borders, while national control protects sensitive capabilities. Presidencies have tried to square the two by narrowing what the EU Space Act covers rather than by loosening its core safety rules.

Launch facilities raise a similar question. The Commission took a broad functional approach to spaceports, while member states want more national discretion and a narrower harmonised regime. Emergency response is another sore point: capitals prefer to keep operational autonomy over rapid access to space-based information in a crisis.

Cybersecurity overlap and the role of EUSPA

Operators face a risk of double compliance. Several member states worry that the cybersecurity and resilience chapters overlap with NIS2, and both presidency texts seek closer alignment with existing rules to avoid duplicated obligations.

Governance is the other open file. The Commission gave the EU Agency for the Space Programme, EUSPA, a substantial role with new supervisory and review mechanisms. Several states want less centralised oversight, a stronger national role and a clearer division of responsibilities. Some also question whether full harmonisation is needed where national systems already work well.

What happens next for space regulation

Parliament is still building its position on the EU Space Act, so the real trilogue bargaining has not begun. Governance, cybersecurity, national security and the limits of harmonisation are likely to dominate the months ahead.

For satellite operators and launch companies, the practical message is to plan for rules that arrive later and lighter than first proposed. The EU Space Act will succeed only if it gives industry one predictable rulebook without overriding the security prerogatives that governments refuse to share.

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