Today the ESA Council decided upon my successor, electing Josef Aschbacher, currently Director for Earth Observation, as the Agency’s next Director General. Congratulations and all the very best to you, Josef!

Changing the person at the helm of ESA is a regular procedure described in the ESA Convention of 1975. I’ve said it before: for me, the position of ESA Director General is quite simply the best “job” in the world and the Convention sets out very clearly the tasks and responsibilities that come with it. Though it might be stretching things a bit to portray the ESA DG in monarchical terms — the DG is not “King” as such — he or she does sit at the apex of a very special ecosystem with a distinctly European flavour, with international reach, indeed one which serves as a much-needed and truly excellent role model for how to achieve cooperation spanning beyond all national or institutional borders. Without wishing to strain the royal metaphor too far, while today the cries of “Long live the King!” may still be ringing in our ears, there is still some time to go until the end of my mandate in June 2021 and there is still life left in the old King yet! Joking aside, between now and the end of June, there are a number of challenges to be tackled together with the Member States: the vital Financial Framework Partnership Agreement with the European Union is one that immediately springs to mind.

There may come a time, perhaps as part of ESA’s ongoing History Project, when some great legal and historical minds come together to write the history of how the legal frameworks put in place have shaped Europe’s remarkable space story. That story will undoubtedly begin in 1975 with the founding of ESA and the enshrining of the rules of our Agency in an international treaty, the ESA Convention. A lawyers’ masterpiece, the Convention describes with admirable clarity the purpose, role and tasks of the European Space Agency. With time, the context in which ESA operates has evolved somewhat, not least with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the resulting development of a range of space activities by the European Union. Though the idealistic vision of those fathers and mothers of the Convention remains as legally valid and powerful as ever, there are still those who might suggest, as heard from one national delegation to ESA, that it may be time for a fresh interpretation. Personally, I am not so sure the well-established principles of the Convention, which have served Europe’s space sector so well, can be simply side-stepped or re-interpreted in some way.

Of all the ideas and values that shaped me growing up, one of the most significant has to be an aspiration for a Europe without borders, something like the United States of Europe as envisioned by Winston Churchill in his celebrated speech in Zurich in 1946. Today we may not be so very close to achieving that but in our field at least, we can say with some pride and satisfaction that we have delivered a “United Space in Europe”. This has always been the basic motto behind my work at ESA: bringing together all the actors in space to conduct peaceful activities of benefit to society, and of course to the economy and the environment.

My successor was elected today, on 17 December 2020, and will take up the position on 1 July 2021. 17 December is a very special date for me, as my father died on 17 December 1967, when I was just 13 years old. I am very grateful for all the opportunities I have had, and am quite sure my parents would be surprised (and, I hope, happy) to see that I tried to pay back everything they invested in me. But my time with the Agency is far from at an end. With more than 6 months at the helm of ESA in front of me, I intend to use this time in the best interests of the Agency while at the same time securing a smooth transition to my successor, Josef Aschbacher. I hope that he will enjoy the position every bit as much as I do and wish him all the very best. May he be able to draw on the same degree of support both internally and externally and succeed in finding a good work-life balance in this fascinating yet all-consuming job, especially with regard to the family.