Europe’s space sector remains a critical enabler of economic competitiveness, security and strategic autonomy. However, its performance is increasingly constrained by fragmentation across governance structures, industrial organisation and financial markets. These weaknesses are structural rather than cyclical and cannot be addressed through incremental funding alone. The next EU policy and budget cycle offers a narrow but decisive window to improve effectiveness without reopening destabilising institutional redesigns.

Together, the actions proposed in this popicy paper offer a realistic pathway to reduce fragmentation, improve execution and move Europe’s space sector from structural weakness to sustainable scale within the next policy cycle.