Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. Albania and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.

Chair,

I would like to assure you of our full support and cooperation, and thank the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) for its excellent work and its Director Aarti Holla-Maini for her able leadership. 

We commend UNOOSA for the organisation of the Space Law and Policy Conference last November. It fostered an inclusive dialogue and highlighted numerous aspects of global governance, principles of international space law, and mechanisms for cooperation and collaboration on space activities. 

The Pact for the Future reaffirms the importance of the widest possible adherence to and full compliance with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, the cornerstone of the international legal regime governing outer space activities, and the need to establish new frameworks for space traffic, space debris and space resources through the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). It also underscores the critical role of a safe and sustainable use of space in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. In this context we look forward to an early agreement on the objectives, venue, organisation and funding of the UNISPACE IV Conference in 2027 and expect UNOOSA to have the necessary resources to properly implement its mandate.

As responsible space actors, the EU and its Member States are committed to promoting the universalisation and implementation of international instruments on outer space, in particular the Outer Space Treaty. We encourage all States to accede to or ratify and fully implement the UN Treaties on outer space.

The COPUOS Working Group on the Status and Application of the Five UN Treaties on Outer Space is an important forum to review the status of the treaties, their implementation and obstacles to their universal acceptance, as well as to promote space law. We welcome that the Working Group agreed on a work plan on the implementation of Article XI of the Outer Space Treaty and will start the preparation of a template or a model submission form that could be offered to States and international intergovernmental organizations as a voluntary tool.

We also welcome the progress made within the Working Group on Legal Aspects of Space Resource Activities and the upcoming Space Resources Week hosted by Luxembourg, as well as the 8th Space Resources Conference in Krakow, Poland on the theme “The Path to Lunar Sustainability”, in May 2025. Both events will provide valuable inputs to the work of the Working Group and should facilitate consensus building on outstanding issues, in particular the drafting of a set of initial recommended principles for space resources activities.

Likewise, the EU and its Member States acknowledge the positive discussions within the Working Group on Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities (WG-LTS) and encourage continued work on the implementation of the 21 LTS Guidelines, capacity building and emerging challenges, and the adoption of recommendations that could be included in its final report in 2026.

Chair,

Work is ongoing at European level to advance Space Traffic Management (STM) as set out in the Joint Communication on Space Traffic Management and affirmed by the EU Member States. 

We are currently developing capabilities and frameworks, and developed bilateral and multilateral partnerships with international partners. Since 2023, as part of EU Space Surveillance & Tracking (SST), also non-European users benefit from the collision avoidance services, and since 2024 from the re-entry and fragmentation services. The European Commission was pleased to contribute to the first-ever UN Space Sustainability Days in January 2025. This was an important initiative from UNOOSA to build capacities on space surveillance and tracking and space traffic coordination. In this regard, we take note of the proposals for the Establishment of an Expert Group on Space Situational Awareness at the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) and of a Study Group on Legal and Policy Aspects of Space Traffic at the Legal Subcommittee (LSC).

Chair

The EU reaffirms its commitment to strengthening international cooperation in the field of space security, advancing the development of norms, rules and principles that promote responsible behaviour in outer space, and supporting the efforts of the international community in preventing an arms race in all its aspects in outer space. In this context, we supported the establishment of the new Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on the prevention of arms race in outer space in all its aspects by the General Assembly last year and we will continue to participate in its work in an active and constructive manner in a hope that the process would result in a substantive outcome to strengthen space security.

Chair,

We underline the utmost importance of the UN Charter and other provisions of international law in exploration and use of outer space.  In this context, we continue to condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as the DPRK’s illegal actions in violation of multiple Security Council Resolutions, including its satellite launches using ballistic missile technology. 

Thank you