Romanian researchers decry plan to pare back country’s participation in European space projects

The Romanian government has decided to pare back its yearly contribution to the European Space Agency (ESA) by 35% in order to be able to pay €60 million in accumulated debts to the ESA budget. But some researchers in the field say this could endanger ongoing space projects and diminish the country’s role in the European space sector. 

The research ministry says it has received additional funds from the national budget and is now able to “renegotiate the relationship with ESA” and repay some of the outstanding arrears. The government has recently held talks with ESA representatives to reschedule payments and “redefine” the projects that Romania is willing to participate in. “The ESA has responded favourably,” the research ministry said in a statement. 

However, some Romanian space researchers disagree with the move and warn that it could bring ongoing projects to a halt. Rareș-Cristian Bișag, president of the Romanian Space Initiative, Rospin, said in an emailed statement that Romania will suffer from the budget cuts and ongoing projects, including an initiative coordinated by Rospin bringing together young researchers working on an open-source educational satellite, would be set back.

The controversy has erupted at a time when ESA member states have agreed to significantly boost the budget of the agency, while other countries in central and eastern Europe have been leveraging decades of expertise to boost their space sectors by developing new technologies and services which have both civilian and defence applications. 

At the ESA’s latest ministerial conference member states agreed to increase the agency’s budget to €22.1 billion over the next three years, a 30% increase compared to the current budget. The increase reflects a growing interest across Europe in investments in space technologies such as home-grown launchers, but also space-based surveillance and reconnaissance, navigation and secure communications.

Accumulating arrears

Romania has been accumulating overdue payments to the ESA for years. More recently it signed up for additional projects, which meant the total cost of annual contributions to the ESA budget went up to nearly €50 million. The government says that is untenable, as the amount is on par with what the national research agency UEFISCDI spends every year on its main funding mechanism for research and innovation.

The ESA funds two types of activity. The mandatory space science programmes and the general budget are funded by a financial contribution from all member states, calculated in accordance with each country’s gross national product. But the ESA also conducts a number of optional programmes, and each member state can decide whether to participate and the amounts they wish to contribute. 

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According to the research ministry, Romania will only participate in the ESA programmes that are correlated with the needs of the Romanian government and with the capacity of the national sector to attract and use those funds. “Success rates for Romania, in relation to the underwritten amounts, should be on par with the European average,” the research ministry said in a statement. 

But the research community warns the cuts would increase brain drain, as young space scientists and engineers will be more likely to move abroad if their projects can no longer be funded. A press statement by Rospin says national space competitions, which are meant to complement ESA programmes and to support testing facilities, are either “delayed or non-existent.” 

“The brutal and direct” consequences of low levels of funding are that “thousands of potential beneficiaries are losing access to the full funding chain” between ESA and national programmes, the Rospin statement reads. 

The researchers say the government should pay its contributions to the ESA in full and on time and to reboot national funding calls for Romanian civilian space research. “Otherwise, Romania is condemning its young [scientists] to emigrate and is halting its companies at the gates of one of the most profitable industries of the 21st century,” Rospin said.

A tumultuous history

Romania became the 19th member of the ESA in 2011 and has a long aerospace tradition, contributing to dozens of scientific and technological space missions. 

However, it has been accumulating unpaid ESA bills for years. The country’s voting rights in the ESA were suspended after it failed to pay contributions since 2017, thereby accumulating unpaid bills of at least €124 million. In 2023, then research minister Sebastian Burduja announced that the government was able to unlock enough money to clear the ESA debt.

But arrears have been accumulating again after 2023 and the issue remains unresolved. Bișag says Romania still owes €60 million.

Romania has a tumultuous history with international research collaboration. In addition to the ESA funding delays, the country has also struggled to repair its reputation in the international research community after a years-long litigation over a big laser research lab outside of Bucharest damaged ties with research institutes and companies across Europe.