One of the decisions taken at last month’s meeting of the Council of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) was a decision concerning EUROSUR (the European Surveillance System) and GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) where the Council agreed “[…] To invite the Commission to report before the end of 2010 on how the conclusions of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) border surveillance group on common application of surveillance tools, such as satellites, could be implemented in the EU land and sea borders”.
On 10 and 11 March the Spanish EU Presidency is sponsoring a Conference on Space and Security in Madrid. “The Conference seeks to facilitate a structured dialogue amongst all actors involved in Security-related Space matters embedded in two main programmes: GMES and SSA…. The aim is to build upon the status of discussions on these two programmes in Space Council Resolutions, in GMES Communications from the European Commission and in GMES-related Conferences of previous EU Presidencies (Graz, Munich, Lisbon, Portoroz, Lille, Prague and Stockholm).”
As noted in a Draft Input Paper posted on the Conference web site, one of the topics under discussion is a focus on the security aspects of space monitoring: “[S]ince its inception, the security element of GMES focused on environmental applications and, to a much lesser extent, civilian security applications. Reflecting on current political dynamics, GMES stakeholders are now taking initiatives to strengthen the ‘S’ in GMES by creating synergies between civilian and military actors.”
“The 2008 EU Council Conclusions on GMES call on the Commission to foster the implementation of GMES security related services to support the related European Union policies. (Council Conclusions on Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES): “Towards a GMES programme”, 16722/08 of 2 December 2008.) Border surveillance, maritime surveillance and support to EU External Action have been identified as priority areas for action.”
Click here for the draft EC/ESA Joint Secretariat Input Paper on Space and Security, Feb. 2010.
Click here for ESA GMES page.
MIGRANTS AT SEA 