National ministers responsible for space policy will be invited by the Croatian Presidency of the EU Council on Friday 29 May to give their views on how space data and related services could contribute to a 'green' recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.
In the opinion of the Presidency, the health crisis linked to Covid-19 must not overshadow the role of the space sector in economic and sustainable growth. However, the Presidency also notes in its document circulated to national delegations that methodologies for assessing the socio-economic impact of space programmes need to be improved. This is also necessary, according to the Presidency, to improve interactions between human societies, the biosphere and the climate system.
At the same time, the conclusions of the EU Council regarding a “sustainable space sector” will be adopted by written procedure, with a deadline of 4 June. In substance, Ministers invite the Commission to prepare an in-depth analysis of the future prospects of the new European area and its contribution to the European economy, in particular for SMEs and start-ups, taking into account the emergence of new players and new developments, along with an in-depth reference to the private sectors on the other side of the Atlantic and in China.
Furthermore, they are calling on the European Commission to build on the European Data Strategy and the forthcoming update of the New Skills Agenda for Europe and the EU Digital Education Action Plan to develop digital literacy and data analysis skills, in particular in view of the increasing volume of Earth observation data and other space data.
They will therefore invite the European GNSS Agency to cooperate with Member States in order to better target national markets and thereby enable space data and services to strengthen recovery.
View the provisional conclusions: https://bit.ly/2TOd7ad (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)