Madam Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia^*, Montenegro^*, and Albania^*, the country of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidate Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and Georgia, align themselves with this statement.

The European Union and its Member States continue to strongly promote the preservation of a safe, secure and sustainable space environment and the peaceful use of outer space on an equitable and mutually-acceptable basis. The EU recognises outer space as a global commons, to be used for the benefit of all, with many of the systems and services that are today essential for well-being as well as security depending directly or indirectly on space.

Strengthening the safety, security, sustainability and peaceful nature of outer space activities is a key priority, in the common interest of present and future generations.

Space is a driver of job creation, economic growth and innovation for the benefit of all people. The EU, its Member States and ESA together have developed strong and unique space capacities and industry, and the EU has a large budget for space, most of which is dedicated to the European Global Navigation Satellite systems, Galileo and EGNOS, and the European earth-observation system, Copernicus. These flagship programmes have made impressive progress recently and the data and services they produce are available on a full, open and free-of-charge basis to users world-wide.

An important reason for this investment effort is that we believe that space science, applications and technologies have a great potential to help us address major challenges of our time and realize the global agendas Space technologies contributed to combatting COVID-19 and played a crucial role in the economic recovery after the pandemic and in tackling the global climate crisis. In this respect, we are looking forward to continue our work on the "Space 2030" Agenda and its implementation plan with a view to mobilising space for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals and targets.

We reiterate that the United Nations Charter, the UN Treaties on outer space and five UNGA sets of principles, as well as other related resolutions adopted by the UNGA, constitute the cornerstone of international space law, and the space activities must take place within a multilateral rules-based system.

We underline that UNOOSA, COPUOS and its Subcommittees are the unique international platform for international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, including on the development of international space law, international norms and standards, guidelines, best practices, and other transparency and confidence building measures regulating space activities.

We remain convinced that transparency and confidence-building measures can make an important contribution to the security, safety and sustainability of activities in outer space. The EU  and  its  Member  States  highlight the importance  of  the  mutually-reinforcing  role of transparency   and   confidence-building   measures,   reducing   the   risks   of   misperception, miscalculation,  and  unintended conflict escalation,  and  the  need  to  advocate  for  responsible behaviour in outer space. They are a key instrument to further strengthen the current normative framework. In this regard, the EU and its Member States believe that publishing and sharing information about space doctrines, policies and strategies is responsible and would help creating confidence between actors. Sharing information on space launch vehicle programs, including pre-launch notifications, is already established practice under the Hague Code of Conduct (HCoC).

We also remain strongly committed to the prevention of an arms race in outer space. Preventing an arms race in outer space and preventing outer space from becoming an area of conflict are essential for the strengthening of strategic stability and for safeguarding the long-term use of the space environment for peaceful purposes, for present and future generations.

We support the implementation of the preamble and the 21 Guidelines for the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space activities, adopted by COPUOS, and consequently the UN General Assembly. The EU and its Member States welcome the agreement of the terms of reference, methods of work and work plan of the Working Group on Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities (WG-LTS) at the recent 59th session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee. We commend all Member States for their constructive approach and flexibility. We are looking forward to actively participating in the upcoming meetings and contributing to the substantive discussions with regard to the implementation of the 21 LTS guidelines, capacity building and new challenges. The EU invites all UN Member States to embark on their implementation.

We remain concerned about the continued development, testing and proliferation of anti-satellite weapons (ASAT), both ground-based and co-orbital and underline the importance of addressing such dangerous and highly destabilising developments promptly and as part of international efforts to prevent threats to objects in outer space. Considering that destructive anti-satellite missile tests create space debris and pose significant risks to outer space activities which are irreconcilable with a sustainable use of outer space, the EU  and  its  Member  States  urge all  UN Member States  to  refrain  from such harmful activities.

The European Union strongly condemned the Russian Federation’s conduct, last year in November, of a kinetic direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon test against its own satellite, COSMOS 1408, resulting in its destruction by a missile, as a clear act of irresponsible behaviour in outer space. It generated a large amount of space debris that constitute a long-lasting risk for crewed and un- crewed space activities, including for the safety of astronauts and cosmonauts at the International Space Station. This action contradicts the position expressed by the Russian Federation in multilateral fora, including in its contribution to the report of the UN Secretary General on responsible behaviour in outer space.

The conduct of such tests are dangerous and highly destabilising, as potentially leading to deteriorating the confidence between space actors, increasing the perception of threats. The European Union continues to urge all States to refrain from the irresponsible behaviour of destructing space objects that generate space debris in order to preserve the safe, secure and sustainable use of outer space for present and future generations. This threatening behaviour entails a high risk of miscalculation and escalation and undermines stability in outer space. It is a strong reminder of the urgent need to take forward international discussions in order to agree on and implement norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviour in outer space and other transparency and confidence-building measures, while ensuring compliance with existing international law.

The EU and its Member States will continue to advocate for responsible behaviour in outer space, as well as a comprehensive approach in addressing challenges, risks and threats to the peaceful use of outer space, in compliance with international law, notably in the framework of the United Nations.

Without excluding the possibility of a legally binding instrument in the future, we believe that voluntary measures constitute a pragmatic way forward at the moment, starting with norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviours through an incremental and inclusive process initiated by Resolution 75/36. We emphasise that any future legally binding framework in the scope of space security should be effective and verifiable and should cover all relevant threats, be they Earth-to-space, space-to-space, or space-to-Earth.

In that regard, the EU and its Member States welcome the adoption of UNGA Resolution 76/231 entitled “Reducing space threats through norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviours”, which is a timely step to contribute to the reduction of threats and risks related to outer space. The establishment of this Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG), which the EU and its Member States fully support, paves the way for a detailed and inclusive discussion on reducing threats through responsible behaviours with a view to concretely improving space security and to contribute to the prevention of an arms race in outer space, which is essential for strengthening international security and stability.

Globally shared principles of responsible behaviour should increase international cooperation in space, commit to mutual non-interference in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, facilitate an equitable access to outer space and increase transparency in the conduct of space activities.

As firm believers in multilateralism with the United Nations at its core, the EU and its Member States strongly believe that now is urgent and in the interest of all States to pragmatically and immediately improve space security and to act swiftly in order to agree on a global, common and multilateral solution through greater coordination and cooperation, with the involvement of all UN Member States and relevant organisations. The EU and its Member States therefore continue to be fully committed to engage actively and constructively in discussions on the prevention of an arms race in outer space.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.