Brussels, 29/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - The “Space” Council held in Brussels on Friday 29 May did not last more than two hours. It will, however, have allowed member states to confirm their commitment in favour of developing the European space policy and programme for collecting information about the environment and security from space (GMES/Kopernikus). During an informal debate, European ministers responsible for space issues all signed up to the proposal for a regulation adopted by the European Commission on 20 May, a text which fixes the legal framework and financing arrangements for the initial operational phase of the programme (€825 million in total from the 7th research framework programme for the years 2011-2013) (see EUROPE 9909).
The regulation is to be adopted as part of the codecision procedure between the Council and Parliament, but European Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen said during the press conference after the Council how pleased he was that the programme had made such progress. “It is therefore no longer an initiative, it is a programme”, he said, expressing his resolve to publish, by the end of his mandate, rules on intellectual property and data protection required for the programme and to make sufficient funds available for financing over the period 2014 to 2020. He also said it would be essential to ensure the programme's transparency. “This is an extremely sensitive problem” which takes us “towards the territory where the defence community is accustomed to real monopoly of information, and hence we can expect lively and impassioned debates during this year”, the commissioner added. The Council also held a short debate on space policy and innovation and adopted a resolution confirming the positive impact of space policy on the European economic recovery plan, placing emphasis on the space sector's strong potential for innovation. “Investment in space research is vital”, said Miroslava Kopicova, Education, Youth and Sport Minister, speaking on behalf of the Czech EU Council Presidency. “At the time of crisis, some may think it is a luxury but one should not forget the advantages” of hi-tech space technology in terms of “improving the quality of life in general”, and the technological spin-off on other sectors, she said, assuring that “every euro invested in space policy will be multiplied”. “We have greatly insisted on the governance (of space programmes), synergies, the network between institutions at national and international level, as well as between the public and private sector”, said Maria Stella Gelmini, who is president-in-office of the European Space Agency and Italian minister for education, universities and research. She also urged for improvements to be made in the sector's applications. On the sidelines of the Council, the Czech Republic presented its candidature for hosting the high level conference on space exploration. The exact date of the conference, foreseen for the autumn, has still to be determined. (A.By./transl.jl)