21/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - In a speech delivered last week at the "Ecole royale militaire de Belgique", in Brussels, the High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, stressed the "indispensable role" that space technologies play in crisis management. They assure "maximum effectiveness in the coordination and sequence of using a whole range of crisis management and foreign policy instruments", he said. Recalling that the Satellite Centre in Torréjon, in Spain, has become an EU agency (Ed.: after having been attached to the WEU for years), he added: "Mastering (these technologies) is also indispensable for autonomy of decision-making and equality in the partnership with other international actors". Galileo and the "Global Monitoring for Environment and Security" (GMES) project are major initiatives for strengthening Space Europe, Mr Solana notes, remarking, moreover, that the Green Paper on Space will "give fresh impetus to a true European Space Policy". Finally, he stressed, "Space is a theme that mobilises public opinion, a driving force for continuing European construction".