Europe's future in space and the opportunities it will offer to us all will be discussed at a conference in Brussels on 26-27 October under the aegis of the European Parliament. Members of the public are invited to attend.

This conference, organised with the participation of ESA and under the high patronage of the President of the European Parliament, Mr Jerzy Buzek, is a new opportunity for the political decision-makers, company executives and representatives of civil society to discover and debate the political and financial stakes as well as the exciting industrial and service opportunities offered by the competence on the space policy of the EU.

The Convention of ESA, an International Treaty among 18 European States that entered into force in 1975, establishes that the purpose of the Agency is to foster cooperation among European states in space, by elaborating and implementing a long-term European Space Policy.

The Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1 December 2009, has given a additional impetus to the European Space Policy, to its programmes and to its ambitions in the exploitation and exploration of space.

It also reallocates the competences between the institutions of the EU. It also provides the European Parliament with a crucial role.

Top-level representatives of Europe, its institutions and industrialists, will participate in the debates.

The Conference will be opened by Mr Buzek, President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission (tbc), Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA and Mercedes Bresso, President of the European Committee of the Regions.

The subjects under discussion will include:

+ Governance for the European space infrastructures
+ Industrial policy
+ Financing: public credits, private investments, commercial space
+ State of play of the main European space programmes
+ Space infrastructures in the service of crisis management, security and defence
+ Space infrastructure in the service of society
+ Space infrastructure in the service of optimum management of the planet
+ The stakes of space exploration