– Should GMES become the European participation to GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems), decided on the Earth Summit in Brussels?
– Should Europe try to get independence in space borne data sources or should it only complement what is available e.g. in the US?
– Should we use another joint undertaking to implement GMES or should we use other cooperation models foreseen in the framework agreement (ESA as implementing agency of the EU)?
– Is the GMES financing model proposed the right one? (ESA pays phases A+B, mixed funding for phases C/D and EC funding after the first satellites including operation)
– Are the requirements defined so far, coming from the 12+4 initial GMES services and from the analysis of the data gaps in Europe the right ones?
Important dates to have in mind:
– High level on Space Policy Group- 3rd week March
– Joint Secretariat issues (EU Council, Coreper and ESA bodies) – beginning
April
– EU Council process documents- 3rd week April
– Draft joint document- end April
– High level on Space Policy Group, HLSPG, examine documents- beginning May
– Joint Secretariat revised draft documents- 2nd week May
– Research working party processes- 17 May
– Coreper I, finalised draft joint document- 27 May
– ESA processed finalised draft joint document- end May
– Second Space Council- 7 June