German Minister for Research, Technology and Aerospace Dorothee Baer shakes hands with ERSA General Director Josef Aschbacher as they pose for the media during the European Space Agency (ESA) ministerial meeting at the Congress Centrum in Bremen, northern Germany, on November 26, 2025. FOCKE STRANGMANN / AFP
The European Space Agency announced on Thursday, November 27, that it had secured a record budget of €22.1 billion to fund its programs for the next three years, as the continent seeks greater independence in space. The ESA also approved a plan to bolster security and defense cooperation and laid out future plans for scientific space missions at a ministerial council meeting in the German city of Bremen.
The agency's 23 member states committed €5 billion more than in 2022's budget, with the total representing almost all of the €22.2-billion funding sought by the agency. "This has never happened before," ESA director General Josef Aschbacher told the meeting. "You have written history." Ahead of the meeting, experts had expected a budget of around €20 billion.
The new pledges demonstrate that space is an "economic sector that is growing very fast," Aschbacher emphasized. "It is also more and more important for security and defense, and it is a domain where Europe has to catch up," he added. Germany was the biggest contributor to the total budget with more than €5 billion, while France contributed €3.7 billion.
