By Tim Hepher and Dominique Vidalon

PARIS (Reuters) - The head of the European Space Agency dismissed concerns on Thursday that cooperation in Europe is dwindling as Italy charts its own course on rocket operations and weighs a potential agreement with Elon Musk's Starlink on satellites.

Italy's Avio is due to take over operations of the Vega C rocket on behalf of ESA, pulling the Italian-built rocket away from Europe's main launch operator, Arianespace.

Meanwhile Rome is evaluating potential supply accords with Starlink, and Musk said on Monday that he was "ready to provide Italy the most secure and advanced connectivity!".

"We are observing very carefully how much nationalisation takes place and how much European activity take place," ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher told Reuters.

"Space is becoming more and more strategic and important. It is also clear that investments in space are increasing... My job is to underline the benefit to European countries of participating in European programmes rather than national ones."

Reports in the past week of a potential role for Starlink in Italy come weeks after the European Commission announced funds for the long-awaited IRIS² constellation, designed to offer secure communications for European governments and agencies.

"It is such a dimension ... that it requires a European approach. You need European programmes," Aschbacher said on the sidelines of an annual presentation by the Paris-based agency.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has developed a strong relationship with Musk, a close ally of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, the European Union is grappling with how to respond to social media posts by Musk that have castigated some elected leaders and generated consternation in several capitals.

At a press conference, Aschbacher declined to comment when asked whether Musk's remarks would affect the way ESA does business.

ESA has turned to SpaceX to launch some European payloads during a recent gap in the region's access to space.

The 22-nation agency, founded 50 years ago to unify efforts in launchers and satellites, faces a crucial year for re-building independent access to space after various setbacks.

LAUNCH PLANS

Its flagship Ariane 6 staged a delayed first launch last July. The second launch, which is also the first commercial mission, was initially scheduled for the end of last year.

ESA officials said Ariane 6 would now stage its next launch in February and a further four in 2025 for a total of five during the year, down from an earlier target of six.

The missing launch involves a satellite for weather agency EUMETSAT which last year announced plans to switch an upcoming satellite launch to SpaceX's Falcon 9. EUMETSAT did not respond to a request for comment on its current plans.

ESA itself has no further SpaceX launches in the pipeline other than the deployment of Sentinel-6B in co-operation with NASA, which is funding the launch, ESA Director of Space Transportation Toni Tolker-Nielsen said.

"We only launched our satellites on Falcon 9 because we did not have Ariane 6 or Vega C available. Now that we (do) we will launch our satellites with these two launchers and I will not enter the discussion (on Musk)," he said.

Vega C returned to space in December after failing on its first commercial launch in December 2022, restoring a second pillar of Europe's access to orbit.

It will perform four launches in 2025, Tolker-Nielsen said.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Hugh Lawson)