Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-16-Speech-4-074-000"
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"en.20120216.7.4-074-000"2
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"Mr President, the question posed by Mr Glante concerning the European Earth Monitoring Programme (GMES), which is one of the flagship programmes of European Union space policy included in the Europe 2020 strategy, is important.
The communication of June 2011 on the budget for Europe 2020 placed GMES outside the multiannual financial framework. In accordance with financial regulations, a legal act, that is to say, in this case a regulation, is no longer necessary, as there is no financial undertaking. The communication to the European Parliament and to the Council, which was adopted in November 2011, thus seemed best suited for opening a debate with the other institutions on how to guarantee the long-term success of GMES. This communication contains, in an annex, the elements that may be included in an international agreement between the Member States to replace the regulation that will expire at the end of 2013.
Ladies and gentlemen, GMES undoubtedly remains an important EU programme. The Commission was of the opinion that the costs of GMES could not be borne solely by the EU budget, considering the limits imposed in it. It is a way of ensuring the continuity of the programme while, at the same time, enabling the European Union to continue to be in full compliance with its international commitments. It must be recognised that the structure of the EU budget makes it difficult to finance major programmes, like GMES, the duration of which far exceeds that of the financial framework.
As the Commission repeated on 30 November in its communication, it considers that it is firmly committed to the success of GMES. If, as proposed, a GMES fund is established by the Member States, the Commission will present, in legal form, a proposal for its implementation. The timetable will depend on the establishment of the financing fund by the Member States within the Council.
Discussions on GMES are taking place at this very moment in the Council and, in this context, there will be an exchange of views on this subject in the Competitiveness Council on 21 February. GMES will provide information which will make it possible to tackle issues ranging from climate change to border surveillance, as I have just said. That is why I think that it is an important programme, which we must continue to support, in one way or another, with the Member States.
I will not reiterate all the information that GMES can provide, which is vital for the environment, the protection of biodiversity, the state of the oceans, understanding climate change, reacting to natural disasters, prevention and policy development. This information is necessary to enable all public authorities in the Member States, sometimes also the regions, to implement all these reparation, prevention or environmental protection policies.
GMES has demonstrated its effectiveness. My thoughts turn to the major disaster that struck the island of Haiti in January 2010. Satellite images provided by GMES enabled the European Union to provide all the international players and emergency services working on the ground with reference maps showing where the damage had occurred.
I say that because, before I became a Commissioner again, I had the opportunity to work in the area of civil protection on the idea supported by my colleague, Kristalina Georgieva, of a European organisation for a better civil protection response. In this proposal, I, personally, four years ago, imagined using satellite services to provide a more effective prevention and reparation response, as we were able to do during the major disaster in Haiti.
In addition, GMES data and services are also used for propagation simulations in the event of oil leaks, for example, from the Costa Concordia during that recent disaster.
In budgetary terms, honourable Members, what are we talking about? Since 1998, overall financing for GMES until 2013 by the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) amounted to more than EUR 3.2 billion for the design and initial implementation of the services and infrastructure.
After 2013, the continuation of this programme, which will include the deployment of observation infrastructure, as well as the operation and maintenance of the services, will require a budget of EUR 5.8 billion approximately for the period 2014-2020.
In a recent Euroconsult study on the observation of the Earth by satellite, we noted that, at global level, receipts of EUR 2.5 billion were generated in 2010 from data sales services, which means that these receipts are three times greater than 10 years ago. This is, honourable Members, a rapidly expanding market.
At the same time, a cost-benefit analysis carried out by the Commission found that the GMES programme should generate profits at least four times higher than investment costs for the period until 2030. GMES has not experienced any delays or cost overruns in the past and is not likely to do so in the future, given that it is based on a structure which, if necessary, enables the priorities of the content of the objectives of the different components to be redefined so as to stay within the planned costs."@en1
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