If approved, the proposal would give EUSPA a permanent legal basis independent of the EU budget cycle, nerly double its funding, and expand its mandate to cover IRIS2 governmental services, Space Surveillance and Tracking, and Earth Observation Infrastructure.
April 7th, 2026 – The Commission has submitted a proposal for a standalone founding regulation for the EU Agency for the Space Program (EUSPA), which would see it renamed to the EU Space Services Agency. This proposal, if approved, would replace and supersede the agency provisions currently embedded in Regulation (EU) 2021/696, which established the EU Space Programme for the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework period, due to be partly repealed at the end of the cycle.
The reasoning behind the act is that EUSPA’s founding act is currently tied to a budget framework with a fixed seven-year lifespan, which is inconvenient for an agency whose operations are intended to continue indefinitely, with projects that may exceed this timeline. The proposal aims to solve this while also updating the agency’s task structure to better reflect its expanded role under the European Competitiveness Fund Regulation, which will govern EU space activities under the 2028-2034 MFF.
The proposal largely consolidates and replicates existing provisions from Regulation (EU) 2021/696 and Regulation (EU) 2023/588 on the Union Secure Connectivity Programme, but introduces several structural updates. The most notable update would be an unprecedented expansion of the agency, whose budget would almost double from €525.7 million, to €979.6 million, with their staff growing from 391 FTEs in 2028 to 522 FTEs in 2034.
Also, this regulation creates a Deputy Executive Director position, clarifies the Administrative Board’s voting rules, with certain decisions (such as budget adoption and staff matters) explicitly requiring a favourable Commission vote. The Security Accreditation Board’s procedures are updated as well, including a new provision allowing the Commission to request a decision within three months, with silence treated as a positive outcome.
The agency’s task structure would be reorganised into three tiers. The first covers own tasks the agency performs independently, including security accreditation and PNT operational security. The second covers tasks the Commission shall entrust, including management of Galileo and EGNOS exploitation and the GOVSATCOM Hub. The third one covers tasks the Commission shall entrust subject to the agency’s operational readiness, including provision of GOVSATCOM and IRIS2 governmental services, management of Earth Observation Governmental Service contracts, Space Surveillance and Tracking service provision, and cybersecurity cooperation with ENISA.
