Today, in the Budget Committee was the first exchange of views of the Space surveillance and tracking support programme.
As EPP rapporteur on SST - Space surveillance and tracking support programme - during her intervention, Maria da Graça Carvalho stressed three points regarding the financing of the SST support programme.
"Firstly", she said "there is no explicit budget in the draft legal act. Therefore, an amended has been tabled to insert a maximum amount of EUR 70 million over seven years".
"Secondly", she continued "the draft legal act itself does not clarify the extent of other programmes contributions. An amendment has been tabled making sure that both EGNOS/Galileo and Copernicus are its primary contributors, while other programmes, such as H2020 and Internal Security Fund, should only be subsidiary. The use of the Horizon 2020 envelope, in particular, should be strictly limited to its own mission - space and security research".
To conclude Ms Carvalho said that "the draft legal act does not lay down precisely the breakdown of the EU funding across the main expected tasks. An amendment has been tabled ensuring three main functions by the SST programme: networking of sensors; data processing; service to the users. For the sake of clarity and accountability, a maximum amount should be broken down into these categories according to the objectives set out in this Regulation".
The deadline for tabling amendments is 24 October 2013, 12.00