Funding decisions are made by the EU and by member states [0]. Given the executive and legislative structure of the EU and of its states, budget does involve decisions made by elected people.
Decisions in administrative sense maybe, but my point is that it's not a topic that comes up in the election at all - unlike NASA in the US - so there is 0 incentive to sell it to the public.
Does NASA come up in presidential elections, mid-term elections, or state governor elections?
Given that the US is a federation and the EU is a union, I would not expect European elections (which are parliamentary) to mention that, as each country selects its MPs for representation in the EU parliament.
Besides, I didn't hear NASA mentioned in the Clinton/Trump debate so far, though I didn't follow it closely.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Space_Agency#Member_s...