Bruxelles, 27/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - The ministers competent for space issues and competitiveness will meet in Brussels this Wednesday 29 May for a Council which will be mainly given over to spatial innovation and applications.
The first part of the meeting will offer the Ministers the opportunity to reflect on what spatial activities can contribute to the relaunch of the European economy, along the lines of the conclusions of the European Council last December, which called for the development of innovative spatial technologies and the resulting services. At the table round, the ministers are expected to stress the need to take account of space in the plan for the relaunch of the economy in Europe and to identify growth markets (ones with high economic development potential). A reflection note put to the ministers states that in the field of space technology, there are three sectors with high innovation potential: - science and space exploration; - technologies vital to "strategic non-dependency"; - space and security (observation, telecommunications, navigation).
During the second part of the meeting, the ministers will return to the applications of the European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security/Kopernicus system. The main issue is how European businesses can be helped to take advantage of the opportunities offered by this system to develop applications. If at all possible, it must be avoided that more innovative companies or those which are quicker off the mark from third countries end up benefiting from infrastructures created with the money of the European taxpayer, a diplomat explained.
The sixth Space Council is expected to adopt a resolution which will cover all of these elements, stressing the need rapidly to engage long-term financial planning for GMES, to develop cooperation between the Commission, the European Space Agency (ESA) and EUMETSAT. The Council is also expected to welcome the most recent results, such as the identification of critical spatial technologies, work undertaken on space surveillance and the involvement of the European Defence Agency, which has just been given part of the MUSIS (new-generation observation satellites) project, in the form of a category B project.
On Wednesday 20 May, the European Commission adopted a proposed regulation establishing a GMES programme and its initial operations for the period 2011-2013. This proposal, which is to be examined in co-decision by the Parliament and the Council in September this year, lays down the various components of the GMES programme (terrestrial surveillance, management of emergency situations, surveillance of the marine environment, surveillance of the atmosphere, adapting to climate change), sources of funding (in particular, securing interim funding 2011-2013, pending the adoption of the new financial perspectives; - a financial envelope of 107 million euros is earmarked for the implementation of the actual regulation; this is the functioning cost of GMES during the initial operational phase, plus 43 million euros for research activities funded under the seventh framework programme; credits of 215 million euros for the development of services and 460 million for the development of space infrastructure, co-funded by the ESA, is also provided by the framework programme), the sharing of GMES data and information policy. (O.J./trans.fl)