ESA PR 2010-26 Ministers in charge of space activities representing the Member States of the European Space Agency and the European Union met in Brussels today for the Seventh Space Council. Today’s Council was jointly chaired by Sabine Laruelle, the Belgian Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, the Self-employed, Agriculture and Science Policy, on behalf of the EU Competitive-ness Council, and Giuseppe Pizza, Italian State Secretary in the Ministry of Education, University and Research, on behalf of the ESA Council at Ministerial Level.
Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Enterprise & Industry, and Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General, also took part.
The Space Council unanimously endorsed a resolution that called for the necessary actions to deliver a space strategy that would enable economic growth, respond to public policy objectives and develop the vocations of science and technology in Europe.
Ministers emphasised that the flagship programmes Galileo and GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) remain the priorities for the EU in space and identified the key decisions to be taken in these areas over the coming months.
