ESA also adopted a resolution at the November ministerial meeting that initiates a dialogue to define how it can adapt to the EU’s growing interest in space.

“There’s a recognition, post-Lisbon Treaty, that we have to work out a new modus vivendi,” says Britain’s science minister, David Willetts, who led the U.K. delegation at the council ministerial. “But it’s strong evidence that ESA isn’t broke, and it would be a pity to dismantle ESA or end up with an EU structure that parallels what ESA does.”