Brussels, 29/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - The new name, new regulation and new budget for the European satellite monitoring programme, Copernicus, will be endorsed by European ministers at the Competitiveness Council in Brussels on Monday 2 December.
According to the Commission's proposals, Copernicus (formerly known as GMES) will have a budget of €3.79 billion for the 2014-2020 programming period so that it can develop, launch and operate satellites. The new regulation says that these satellites, known as sentinels, would monitor the earth and provide satellite images to use for observing climate change and protecting public security.
The European Parliament's industry committee has recently adopted a report by Vittorio Prodi (EPP, Italy) endorsing the new regulation. With this and the approval of the regulation by the Council of Ministers on Monday, trialogue talks will be able to start in order to reach final approval asap. The programme is due to begin in 2014 but the plenary vote is not scheduled until March. The benefits of Copernicus were seen recently with the Haiyan typhoon in the Philippines earlier this month because the first images and maps of the damage were produced by the Copernicus programme, which helped humanitarian and civil protection agencies arrange relief efforts (see EUROPE 10962).
The Lithuanian Presidency will report to the Competitiveness Council on progress in European surveillance of space rubbish, based on a monitoring report by the Commission. (MD/transl.fl)