Europe’s defence ministers met, on Tuesday 29 August, at the EU Satellite Centre (SatCen) to discuss the future of the EU defence policy.
“We have been discussing about the achievement of the centre and more important, how to further save the activities, develop and improve them in the future”, explained the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, at the end of the meeting.
According to him, the ministers provided political guidance for the future of the centre and expressed their commitment to the EU having its own autonomous geospatial intelligence analysis, which is SatCen’s function.
Speaking to the media, Mr Borrell reiterated that the satellite centre was “the eyes of the EU”. “This centre gives us a better picture of relevant developments around the world”, he added.
“The production of the centre has increased incredibly in the last years. Ten times more today than ten years ago. Only this year they have released more than 5000 reports, some of them in less than 24 hours. Because we have to know what’s happening in real time, especially when you are facing a war”, explained the High Representative.
He pointed out that the centre’s contributions and analyses cover a wide range of areas including arms control, non-proliferation, the fight against terrorism, humanitarian missions, natural disasters, drug trafficking and illegal mining throughout the world. The High Representative said that it supported foreign and security policy missions.
To extend SatCen’s work, an agreement has been signed with the defence ministers of five Member States to gain access to Earth observation data from their most recent government systems, and a contribution agreement has been signed extending the satellite centre’s role as a service provider for Copernicus, in support of external actions and security. When contacted by EUROPE, the European External Action Service had not provided any further information on these agreements at the time of going to press. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)