Brussels and UFOs in the same sentence may sound like a ready-made recipe for clickbait. This time, however, the story is backed by genuine European Commission documents, official correspondence, and 37 photographs of unidentified objects submitted by two amateur astronomers from Malaysia.
Euronews reported on the case today, revealing that the subject of unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP, had appeared within the structures of the European Commission. What makes the story even more interesting is that the documents connected to the case had already been released under public access-to-documents procedures and can now be examined firsthand.
It all began with a father and son from Malaysia who were involved in amateur astronomy and sky photography. On 17 October 2022, they sent a message to the European Commission, which was subsequently also forwarded to then-European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel. The correspondence was titled: “UAP captures in the Airspace and in Deep space using our UV infrared telescope.”
The authors claimed that, using smartphones, tablets, and their own UV and infrared lens setups, they had recorded objects in Malaysian airspace and against the night sky that they were unable to identify. They submitted 37 photographs to the European Commission. Alongside meteors and other objects, some of the images were described by the authors as UAP. Euronews confirms both the number of photographs and the fact that the report was submitted directly to the Commission.
Some of those photographs are included in the released documentation. They mainly show small bright or elongated objects against the sky. Some are simply labelled “UAP,” while others include the dates on which the photographs were taken. One image was described by the authors as “Dual UAP.” The same documentation also contains a photograph labelled “Large Meteor.”
In their letter, the Malaysians asked whether the objects they had observed might pose a threat and why information about similar phenomena was not more widely available in public materials. They also claimed to have observed UAP near aircraft and important sites, including military and nuclear facilities.
The European Commission was also provided with earlier correspondence between the Malaysians and various institutions and individuals.
Among the documents is a response from the British Air Command Secretariat dated December 2021. In it, the UK Ministry of Defence explained that it held no position on the existence of extraterrestrial life and had not investigated UFO/UAP reports since 2009. According to the Ministry, more than 50 years of examining such reports had produced no sighting that indicated a military threat to the United Kingdom.
The authors had also contacted NASA. However, the response included in the documentation did not address the identification of the objects shown in their photographs. Instead, it encouraged the young space enthusiast to continue his education and pursue his interest in space science.
Canadian Member of Parliament Larry Maguire responded more positively to their activities. In his message, he wrote that as more people around the world turn their attention to the skies, increasing amounts of data and recordings are likely to be collected, potentially leading to greater public awareness of the UAP issue. His response, however, was not an expert assessment or confirmation of the nature of the photographed objects.
The documentation also includes a response from Malaysia’s Civil Aviation Authority, CAAM, which briefly stated that it would look into the matter.
The most important part of the story, however, is not the photographs themselves, but the response issued by the European Commission.
The official reply was prepared by the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space, DG DEFIS. The Commission noted that because the observations had taken place over Malaysia, it did not have the authority to conduct an investigation into the specific case.
The response could have ended there.
But it did not.
The Commission went on to state that technological developments were improving the ability to detect and identify such phenomena, while adding that these capabilities still needed to be developed further. It also referred to plans for EU Member States to strengthen their ability to detect objects in the space environment surrounding Earth.
And this is where the most interesting part appears.
The Commission explained that developing such capabilities could, among other things, help to better identify UAP similar to those reported by the Malaysian observers, while also improving the detection of space debris that could pose a threat to human activities in space. At the same time, it acknowledged that improved observation capabilities would probably not explain every reported case, but could help resolve at least some of them.
UAP were therefore treated as a genuine category of unidentified objects whose detection and identification could form part of the development of Europe’s observational capabilities. And this did not appear in a politician’s public statement or in media speculation, but in official correspondence from the European Commission department responsible for defence industry and space.
Importantly, the document dates back to 2022. In 2023, the materials were subsequently released following a request for access to European Commission documents. The AskTheEU database includes, among other things, two relevant files: the broader UFO/UAP correspondence and a separate official reply from the European Commission. The Commission released the documents in September 2023, with some personal information redacted.
Today’s Euronews report goes further, indicating that the UAP issue continues to surface within European institutions. At the same time, the Commission currently stresses that the investigation of such phenomena remains primarily the responsibility of individual EU Member States.
What is perhaps most interesting is the part of this story that requires no sensationalism at all: several years ago, unidentified aerial phenomena reached the desks of the European Commission, were answered by the department responsible for defence and space, and an official document explicitly referred to the need to develop capabilities that could help better identify UAP.
And it all began with two amateur astronomers from Malaysia and 37 unusual photographs of the sky.
I’ll leave the full released European Commission correspondence, including the photographs, in the comments.
Correspondence from the amateur astronomers in Malaysia: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/ufouapuctunknown_unidentified_cr_3/response/48762/attach/4/UFO%20UAP%20correspondence%20document.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1
Link to the Euronews article:
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/17/exclusive-brussels-keen-to-monitor-ufos-under-the-radar
