This final article for 2024 concludes our look back at 60 years of European activities in space and turns towards the beginning of the ESA era, revisiting the day when ESRO became ESA and investigating the mechanisms and people through which this happened.
Several different meetings took place on the afternoon of 30 May 1975, under the banner of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries, that together formalised the establishment of the European Space Agency. We have recreated this pivotal moment, bringing together material from the Archives including photographs, a copy of the Convention, and a file of documentation on its drafting and on the programme for the afternoon, created by the ESRO and ESA Legal Adviser Michel Bourély.
Come with us to rediscover the familiar elements of this event with the help of these archival sources, clarify terminology that is still used in ESA today and appreciate the importance of the Convention for ESA as it embarks on its next fifty years!
The venue and organisers
The Conference of Plenipotentiaries took place in Paris at a venue that would have been familiar to many participants from the ESRO years – the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Centre de Conférences Internationales in 19 avenue Kléber. This choice is explained in the draft agenda for meeting, which confirms that invitations had been issued by the government of the French Republic, and after consultation with the Chairman of the European Space Conference (ESC). The French government was therefore both the host of the meeting and the depositary government, who would conserve the original signed copy of the Convention and with whom the relevant member states would deposit their instruments of ratification. Conversely, the ESC had been instrumental in arriving at this point; it had been created in 1966 to coordinate the activities of ESA’s predecessors ELDO and ESRO, later put in place the mechanisms for their amalgamation to create ESA and was the author of the ESA Convention through its Committee of Alternates.
This agenda is just one piece in a collection of information relating to the creation of ESA in the ESA Archives at the European Centre for Space Records (ECSR) at ESRIN. Most probably created by Bourély and preserved by the Legal Department, this folder covers the path from ESRO to ESA Convention and includes detailed documentation on the practical arrangements and the programme. From this, we can consult the running order for the day, the complete agenda for the Conference, and examine the same paperwork that was received by those who took part.
Components of the day
- Credentials received by the Protocol section of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (as the host and depositary government)
- Conference of Plenipotentiaries, held in Room no. 5. A conference file, using a special code created just for this one day, was available to participants and outlined this agenda:
- Opening by French Minister d’Ornano and election of Chairman
- Adoption of the agenda
- Constitution of Conference Bureau
- Establishment of the Credentials Committee and report of that Committee (ie verification of the powers to sign the Final Act and the Convention. The Swiss delegate Peter Creola was elected Chairman on the day and the Committee reported that it had found the credentials submitted to be correct)
- Report from the Chairman of the European Space Conference
- Adoption of the Convention for the Establishment of the European Space Agency
- Adoption of the Final Act of the Conference and Resolutions annexed thereto
- Ceremony of Signing in Salon d’Honneur no. 2. Plenipotentiaries first signed the Final Act and then the Convention. This part of the day’s programme was photographed and televised (we would be delighted to hear from anyone who could help us track down the television footage)
- Reception
In effect, there was a clear split of the meeting into two key parts: the Conference of Plenipotentiaries, which through its ceremonial and official character gave ultimate approval to the text of the Convention and its Final Act that had previously been adopted by the ESC; and the subsequent signing ceremony for both. These two different functions correspondingly took place in the two different rooms listed above.
Participants
Since the Cambridge Dictionary describes the noun plenipotentiary as “old fashioned formal” it may be helpful to also include its definition: “a person who has the authority to represent his or her country, especially in another country ”. While this might appear to be comparable to the head of a delegation at an ESA Council meeting today, there is a significant difference. Use of the term plenipotentiary (from plenus, full, and potentia, power) means not only that the individual represents their country, but also that they have full power to undertake commitments on behalf of that country, power that a head of delegation at a meeting of ESA Council at delegate level does not have.
However, the term head of delegation is, in fact, also used in the text on the practical arrangements, contained in a note that the seats around the table at the Conference were reserved for heads of delegations (of plenipotentiaries). For this Conference only, the terms appear to be interchangeable, since the same document later refers to the Plenipotentiaries taking their seats for the Ceremony of Signing. From the evidence in the photographs from the day, we believe this seating plan had been arranged in alphabetical order, according to the French names for the countries, starting with Germany (Allemagne).
There was a delegation for each prospective member state and its head was usually the relevant minister or ambassador. A clear distinction therefore existed between the delegations and the observers who had been invited. The Report of the Credentials Committee, contained in the folder, lists the countries and organisations who took part, according to their status:
As delegates (listed according to their places around the table): Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland.
As observers: Australia, Austria, Council of Europe, ELDO and ESRO. The last two contained some familiar faces - Eric Plate as the Chairman of Council for ELDO and for ESRO, Maurice Levy as Chairman of Council and Roy Gibson as Director General. Australia was included as a former member of ELDO, who played a vital part in the history of the European launcher programme by supplying the launch base in Woomera, South Australia, where the first Europa launches took place.
Paperwork
The conference file available to all participants (pictured below) included the draft agenda, a report by the Chairman of the European Space Conference, draft Final Act of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries and draft Convention. The report of the Credentials Committee, address by the Chairman of the Conference and full list of participants were, instead, distributed during or after the Conference.
The business of the day
The written Report by the Chairman of the ESC, Belgian Minister Gaston Geens (also referred to as the President) laid out the task for participants:
“I now invite you, as Plenipotentiaries, to adopt the text of the Convention for the establishment of a European Space Agency together with the five annexes which form an integral part of it. You are also asked to decide that this Convention, which will be open for signature as from today, will remain open for signature until 31 December 1975, and to note that it will enter into force when the following States, which are members of ESRO or ELDO, have signed it and have deposited their instruments of ratification or acceptance with the French Government: The Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, the French Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Spain, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Swiss Confederation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Finally, I would ask you to adopt the ten Resolutions proposed to you and to sign the Final Act to which these Resolutions are to be appended.”
(The report previously explained that these Resolutions dealt with, among other things, the transfer of ELDO and ESRO property and staff to ESA and the nomination of directors, enabling continuity of activities and programmes, and with political issues such as the use of languages.)
In other words, there were also two key documents: the Final Act of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries with ten appended Resolutions, which established conditions for the signature of the Convention and for the functioning of ESA; and the Convention itself (including its five annexes). The adoption and signature of both of these documents on 30 May 1975 ushered in the new age of the European Space Agency.
A special document code
The list of Conference documents also reveals an administrative curiosity which gives an insight into its transformational nature. A special ‘CP’ document code, different to the ESC or ESRO codes used prior to this, and to the incoming ESA code, had been created just for this meeting. As an example, CP/ASE/Doc.2 was the code used for the draft agenda. CP stands for Conference des Plenipotentiaires and ASE for Agence spatiale européenne, the French acronyms being used since the paperwork had been produced under the authority of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Beyond 30 May
On the day itself, the ten States which were members of ESRO or ELDO signed the Convention establishing ESA: the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, Spain, the French Republic, the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Kingdom of Sweden, and the Swiss Confederation. However, the date of 30 May officially marked the opening of the Convention for signature – as the Convention itself notes, it remained open for signature by the remaining delegations - Ireland and Norway - until 31 December 1975. Ireland signed the Convention on 31 December 1975, becoming the eleventh ESA Member State, but it was not until 1 January 1987 that Norway joined ESA as a Member State.
However, the Convention still needed to be ratified (or made official) by its Member States, using an instrument of ratification or acceptance, for it to enter into force. These instruments took the form of a document signed by the relevant government, which established a date for its entry into force in that country , and which were deposited with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will be looking more at this process, and the eventual entry in force of the Convention, next year.
Looking to the past and the future
It seems appropriate to conclude with words from the address given on 30 May by French Minister Michel d’Ornano, who chaired the Conference of Plenipotentiaries: “We should pay tribute today to all those who during this period marshalled the resources enabling Europe to take up the challenge from the major powers and to embark on this great endeavour with enthusiasm and determination”.
He was referring, of course, to the ELDO and ESRO years, and we acknowledge the debt of gratitude to these forebears and from 60 years away. But we also now extend this recognition to those who followed and played their part in the first 50 years of ESA, confirming his faith that the new Agency would: “fulfil its promise by serving the idea of progress and peace which inspires our European policy”.
