I'm extremely worried by extremists that win elections in Europe: Luxembourg's PM Luc Frieden

"European strategic autonomy" is a buzz phrase in Brussels and in EU capitals these days. What does it mean for space policy? That was one of the central points that we raised with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden, during his visit to Paris for the International Space Summit hosted by the French government on September 9 and 10. Major American aerospace companies were noticeably absent from the summit while the feud between Brussels and the Trump administration continues.

We began by talking about the far-right breakthrough in Germany – the AfD’s victory in the Saxony-Anhalt regional election at the beginning of September – a political earthquake that sent tremors right across the EU.

"Of course, we live in democracies, so it is for the people of the respective (EU) countries to vote for their leaders, and I am a very strong supporter of democratic elections," Frieden said. "Yet at the same time, people should realise what would happen if we didn’t have Europe. Europe is the answer to the disaster of the last century. We shouldn't forget the lessons of history. Nationalism, discrimination of minorities, of Jews and other minorities, led to the Second World War." 

Frieden continued: "The consequence (of far-right election wins) is that those in the political centre to which I belong must show that they can still achieve the promise of Europe. I want to make sure that tomorrow Europe remains a continent of peace. But peace is not the only thing. We need to have prosperity; this big market where products that are produced in one country can be sold in another country. This is the promise that is making the lives of people better."

We asked if it was a blow to the EU’s image that US aerospace companies such as SpaceX stayed away from the international space summit hosted by the French government, reportedly because of pressure from the Trump administration.

"Strategic autonomy means the freedom to decide for yourself. But deciding for yourself, including in space, does not mean that you exclude all the others. It doesn’t mean that you isolate yourself," Frieden explained. "As Europeans, we can be proud of what we have achieved with our universities, our research centres, our companies. We have strong companies that are building rockets; that are building satellites. And we should continue with quantum technology, where we use satellites to communicate between continents. My country is playing a leading role on that. All this is necessary. But America is and remains our friend. And on many occasions, we need their technology."

Skeptical that the US does not see cooperation with Europe that way, we recalled that the EU was again sidelined from the US diplomatic efforts over Ukraine in early September.

Frieden responded: "On Ukraine, Europe cannot be a mediator because Europe is clearly on the side of Ukraine," Frieden responded. "We are supporting Ukraine because what is at stake is much more than just those provinces in the east of Ukraine. It's about the fundamental principle in which we strongly believe that borders cannot be changed by force. And therefore, every effort that the United States is making to help find a solution finds the support of Europe. Now we have to interact with America so as to make sure that the voice of Europe is also heard. We obviously would like the Americans to be more inclined towards multilateralism. So this is a difficult and challenging time, but we have a lot of links with America, also in economic terms, that we need to preserve."

Programme produced by Perrine Desplats, Isabelle Romero, Agnès Le Cossec and Florine Hausfater

Our guests

Luc Frieden Luxembourg Prime Minister