the ESA do have a much bigger mission planned called Darwin, this is their version of NASA's TPF. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n..._etsearch.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3741674/
European space agency's Darwin like the TerrestrialPlanetFinder project, will use a flotilla of space telescopes flying in formation to look for life on alien Earthlike planets, unfortunately recent funding for NASA's TPF-project has been cut. However because TPF and Darwin were so similar in their design and goals, a collaborative project between NASA-ESA had always seemed possible.