Today, in the Budget Committee was the first exchange of views of the Copernicus Programme. As EPP rapporteur on COPERNICUS, Maria Da Graça Carvalho stressed five points during her intervention in the committee meeting.
Ms Carvalho said that COPERNICUS is the "successor of the European Earth Observation Programme GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), to provide data and information stemming from space-borne and in-situ observations which contribute to the protection of the environment, to civil protection and to security - and ultimately to economic growth".
She also said that the Copernicus programme "will have a dedicated budget line under heading 1a with an amount of EUR 3,786 million in 2011 prices (EUR 4,291 million in current prices) for seven years. Unlike the other financial programmes for the 2014-2020 period, the present proposal has been tabled by the Commission only after the conclusion of the negotiations on the new Multiannual Financial Framework".
Ms Carvalho´s opinion in the BUDG committee reflects the position of MFF Interim Report so as "to ensure adequate funding for this project while at the same time protecting other EU programmes, mainly in the research field, from possible redeployments. Additional unforeseen financial obligations should therefore be covered by the margin available between the MFF ceilings and the own resources ceiling".
For the EPP rapporteur, "it is important to avoid cost overruns in the future. For the sake of clarity and in order to facilitate cost control, the Copernicus envelope should be broken down into various categories according to the specific objectives".
To conclude she believes that the "European Parliament should have an important role to play by supervising and controlling the development of the programme. The Commission shall provide in a timely manner, all relevant information pertaining to the programme, in particular in terms of risk management, costs, schedule and performance".
The deadline for tabling amendments is 24 October 2013, 12.00.