SPACE: POSSIBLE MILITARY ROLE FOR GMES.

• Position: Global Monitoring of Environment and Security

M.Busquin said he had met Javier Solana, the EU high representative for common foreign and security policy (CFSP), to clarify the link between security and the CFSP in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Emphasising that the GMES project and all scientific work carried out by the Research DG is civilian and not military, Mr Busquin added that a clearer definition is needed of the potential security role of GMES, adding that "we have to make a distinction between defence missions and security missions".--The idea of acquiring independent means of access to satellite information - the GMES initiative - was first unveiled by the European Commission in its communication "Europe and Space: opening a new chapter", published on September 27 2000 (COM(2000)597 final). The strategy outlined in this document, drawn up jointly by the Commission and the ESA (European Space Agency), is designed to strengthen space-related activities and make the different judicial and institutional activities in this sphere more coherent. Moreover, in order to put in place coherent and efficient space infrastructure in Europe, the collaboration of all the European actors and their involvement in projects of European interest is necessary.The idea for this initiative dates back to May 1998 in Baveno, Italy, and the annual seminar of the Institution of Space Applications of the Joint Research Centres (JRC). The Commission had invited senior representatives of the European space agencies and related organisations to an informal meeting to examine the implications of the different earth-watching activities carried out in Europe. The organisations present agreed that their earth-watching activities could and should complement the environmental information used for the development and implementation of related EU policies. The Kyoto Protocol, within the framework of the UN Convention on Global Climate Change, was identified as a key issue meriting attention.GMES is used to supply environmental information on conformity with the...