Cooperation with ESA

On 24 November 2003 the Czech Republic followed Hungary with their signature of the ECS agreement. The signed agreements defined the legal basis for developing the specific plan (the PECS Charter) for the Czech Republic which has been signed in November 2004. The Czech Republic had been cooperating with ESA since 1998 within the limited framework of the PRODEX programme. That was transformed into closer collaboration under the ECS agreements. Under the PECS agreement the Czech Republic makes an annual payment to ESA. Initially, the contribute has a value of €5 million over a five-year period or 1 milion Euro per year. 93% of that amount will return to country in the form of contracts to industry and research institutes. The remaining 7% is an administration fee to ESA to cover the Agency's costs of integrating the participation of the country.

The Czech Republic has become the ESA's European Cooperating State on 24 November 2004 when Mrs. Petra Buzkova, the minister for Education, Youth and Sport together with Mr. Lars Fredén, director of the ESA Office for International Relations signed the PECS Charter .

That has happened just one year after both parties signed the Agreement on European Cooperating State . This act concluded period of both the agreement ratification process and preparation of the specific plan for space activity collaboration. The PECS Charter specifies activities through which the Czech Republic participates in ESA programmes during starting period of the agreement. Projects are funded from the Czech Republic 's contributions to the PECS programme of at least 1 million Euro per year.

Under the PECS agreement the Czech Republic is eligible to take part in both ESA research projects and ESA programmes with industrial projects.

More than twenty project proposals from Czech institutions have been evaluated during the PECS Charter preparation phase. To start the programme, eleven projects have been selected by related ESA programme boards and committees and by the Czech side. Their overall budget is 2,8 million Euro, half of which will be spent in the field of space science, above 20 % go for ground segment, almost 15% belong to Earth observation projects and 3% to satellite navigation. Other projects will be added in next years following evaluation of project proposals submitted to the Czech Space Office. The PECS Agreement lasts for five years and can be prolonged.

Further development of the ESA-Czech Republic relations undertaken in 2006 includes a getting access to participation in work of two ESA's programme bodies: International Relations Committee and Earth Observation Programme Board. In both, the Czech Republic got recently the statut of an observer.

These steps are another movements along the line of general strategy of the Czech Republic which is leading to the full membership in European Space Agency.