Seimas ratifies the agreement on Lithuania’s associated membership of the European Space Agency

Press release, 20 May 2021

In light of the Decree of 12 May 2021 issued by Gitanas Nausėda, President of the Republic of Lithuania, the Seimas ratified the Association Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the European Space Agency. The Agreement was signed in Paris on 18 March 2021 and, subsequently, in Vilnius on 28 April 2021.

As noted in the Explanatory Memorandum accompanying the draft Law on Ratification of the Association Agreement, the status of an associated member enables a member state to make a discretionary choice on its participation, contingent on its strengths in the space sector, in various programmes of the European Space Agency (ESA).

The Memorandum goes on to state that ‘this will ensure targeted use of the membership fee to be paid by Lithuania to the European Space Agency annually, in order to strengthen the space sector in areas with significant growth potential. Moreover, associated membership allows implementation of the Third Party Programme that is open to Lithuania’s business and science. This will lead to new opportunities to strengthen the fields that are underdeveloped. Membership of the ESA will also allow science and business to cooperate with Large System Integrators, which the ESA selects for the development of large-scale programmes.’

As has previously been mentioned by Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of Economy and Innovation, the membership fee accounts for 3 million euros per year. ‘We are currently paying 1.4 million euros. The estimate is that entities carrying out projects under the programmes of the European Space Agency, bring considerable added value for economy. For instance, one euro invested by participants of ESA programmes is projected to bring at least 3.5–3.8 euros in value. In other words, Lithuania’s ESA membership will bring around 8.4 million euros in returns for our country every year,’ the Minister said.

A total of 114 MPs voted in favour of the Law (draft Law No XIVP-480(2)) with 16 abstentions.

Rimas Rudaitis, Chief Specialist, Information and Communication Department, tel. +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: [email protected]