Adolfo Urso, fresh from his mandate on space, took part in the ESA ministerial meeting in Paris last Tuesday together with the representatives of the European governments to shore up the strategies and investment programs for aerospace policies for the next three years.
A new challenge, yes space, is attracting the countries that more than the others are investing and dedicating their own resources paper national strategies. Leading among the programs under evaluation was that of pitchers where Italy boasts a prestigious global position and where the aim is to invest more and more in the development of space economy. In this niche sector we are currently in seventh place in the world for expenditure committed and fifth after the United States, France, Japan and China for resources dedicated to innovation.
France, on launchers, has sensed a new outlet to reinvigorate the domestic economy by announcing the development of the project last year Maia, a small reusable launcher made by the Franco-German giant ArianeGroup. A program that, however, entered straight leg with the Italian one, the most famous and used Vega, Manufactured by Avio based in colleferro in the province of Rome.
Following the chords descending from Treaty of the Quirinale Italy and France had agreed that the marketing of the launchers was entrusted exclusively to Arianspace, which is in turn owned by ArianeGroup. The announcement came shortly after the signature between the then Minister for Innovation, Vittorio Colao, and his French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire: the agreement concerned the joint development of the launchers and in particular of the models Ariane 6, used to bring satellites into high orbit, e Vega C., used for small to medium satellites in low orbit.
The ambitious deal has enabled theThat to manage 1,3 billion of the Italian Pnrr destined for space, on the initiative of the former minister Colao himself. A choice considered by many to be wicked because it could have allowed France to be able to take advantage of the funds destined, instead, for Italy.
An interim solution had been proposed by Mario Draghi, who had asked France to involve Italian industry in the creation of the Maya project, so as to develop together an alternative to the Falcon di Elon Musk. The requests of the then Italian prime minister went unheeded.
Rome, today, needed a solution quickly because with the budget law it would have had to allocate funds to contribute to ESA projects with a budget of 2,8 billion for the next five years. Part of this money comes from the annual resources already available to theItalian Space Agency – ASI – and other reserve funds, but the budget law to be approved by the end of the year must block another billion for the next three years.
Over the months, however, France has never envisaged any possibility of convergence, on the contrary, until last Tuesday, it threatened to "do not finance the Vega-E project produced by Avio".
The Italian response was immediate, threatening, in turn, to cancel national funds in favor of the P-120, the rocket engine that will push the transalpine-made launcher into orbit Ariane 6. Il Foglio reported the French response: “But we can finance that ourselves”.
A seal to the fact that the clash was escalating beyond belief.
Luckily Adolfo Urso he had an interview with the Frenchman very early Wednesday morning Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy who has been managing the delegation to Aerospace for years. Apparently they have reset the question bringing it back to reasonableness, so much so that at the end of the meeting Urso spoke of a "decisive meeting".
After a few minutes the president Melons announced: “In Paris we safeguarded the interests of the Vega launchers built by Avio in the launcher sector".
But it was one mutilated victory because, as reported by Il Foglio, of the almost 40 million that Paris had promised on the project coordinated by Avio, Le Maire granted only 13, with a shortfall partly covered by the Spanish commitment. “Therefore, the Pnrr funds will finance the construction of `our' mini launcher built by Avio“, explained Urso.
The Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti had made available to Urso for the ESA Ministerial, almost 3 billion, everything has been spent: 2,8 billion, with 817 million still to be allocated. Italy also had to confirm the over 80 million in favor of French projects.
The only positive note is that the agreement could lead to a return to Italy because most of the components of the P-120 will be produced by Avio itself, in the Colleferro plant. At the end of the ministerial meeting there was a joint statement by Urso and Le Maire, together with the German vice-chancellor Robert Habeck.