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Croatia becomes ESA European Cooperating State

17/08/2023 744 views 1 likes

Croatia became a European Cooperating State (ECS) on 16 August when the European Cooperating State Agreement signed earlier this year came into force.

ESA's Josef Aschbacher with Prof. Radovan Fuchs of Croatia

On behalf of Member States, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher signed an ECS Agreement with Prof. Radovan Fuchs, Croatian Minister for Science and Education, in Paris on 23 March.

The ECS Agreement entered into force after ratification and subscription by Croatia to the Plan for European Cooperating State (PECS) Charter in July and August this year. It supersedes the Cooperation Agreement signed by the former Minister of Science and Education, Ms Blaženka Divjak, on 19 February 2018 in Zagreb, and its Implementing Arrangement for Technical Assistance and Expertise.

Croatia has participated in the PECS Committee meetings as an observer since March 2014. A member of the European Union since July 2013, they received an observer status in ESA official meetings (for example, Council, International Relations Committee, Programme Board for Earth Observation) for matters of common interest, such as Galileo and Copernicus.

ESA has now established formal relations with all EU members that are not Member States of ESA. Through the ‘Resolution on industrial policy measures to achieve a successful integration of European States in the frame of ESA’, adopted by Council on 13 December 2018, an improved cooperative approach designed for European states with a view to their possible accession to the Convention was introduced. The initial ECS scheme dated back from 2001 and was implemented for the first time for Hungary in 2003.

Four former ECS concluded Association Agreements at the end of their PECS period: Slovenia in 2016 (a ‘reinforced’ Association was introduced in 2020), Latvia in 2020, Lithuania in 2021 and Slovakia in 2022. New ECS Agreements with Bulgaria and Cyprus entered into force in 2022. A general cooperation agreement has been concluded with Malta in 2012. It is planned that Malta will also become an ECS in early 2024, in addition to Croatia, with ESA Member State agreement.