ABSTRACT
The inclusion of a chapter on the EU and space policy in a book about militarism might seem odd to readers. After all, the EU has publicly formulated a self-image as a mechanism for the promotion of peaceful crisis management and conflict resolution. Moreover, space is increasingly seen as a field of facilitating sophisticated technological applications for the improvement of the daily lives of citizens. These statements contain elements of truth, yet they do not tell the full story. The EU has developed an impressive set of military instruments, institutions and capabilities under the aegis of the Common Security and Defence Policy. It has also been involved in numerous missions involving the projection of military force abroad. In addition, space is not only about civilian telecommunications satellites and GPS; it is also about a variety of military applications. One need not turn to Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars madness to verify this. The EU itself has developed two complex space systems that maintain a distinct military dimension: the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) and Galileo.
