French-German space cooperation in the spotlight at DLR New Year wishes

CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall was in Germany for the New Year wishes ceremony at DLR, the Germany aerospace agency, where he took time to meet its Chairman Johann-Dietrich Wörner. This was their first meeting since the ESA Ministerial Conference in Luxembourg and Johann-Dietrich Wörner’s election as the next ESA Director General.

At the New Year wishes ceremony at DLR in front of an audience of guests from across the German space community, Johann-Dietrich Wörner gave pride of place to French-German space cooperation. This year’s gathering took on a special importance for him, as it was his last as the agency’s Chairman and Jean-Yves Le Gall was there to pay tribute to him.

After the ceremony, Mr Le Gall and Mr Wörner met to discuss the application of decisions reached in Luxembourg, development of Ariane 6, Europe’s participation in the International Space Station and relations between ESA and the European Union. As the new ESA Director General effective from 1 July, Johann-Dietrich Wörner will also be France’s main channel of contact in space.

After his meeting with Johann-Dietrich Wörner, Jean-Yves Le Gall said: “I wanted today to pay warm tribute to Johann-Dietrich Wörner for his quite remarkable tenure as DLR Chairman. With his arrival at ESA on 1 July, we will have the opportunity to continue our combined efforts in Europe and to build on our excellent relationship and the projects we have pursued and advocated together, following on from the recent successes achieved in Luxembourg that owe much to the excellent space cooperation between France and Germany.”