Latvian Presidency

Latvia has assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first half of 2015. It has three overarching priorities: Competitive Europe, Digital Europe and Engaged Europe. Global societal challenges require responsible and reliable science which is aligned with values and needs of the European society. Raising awareness of the concept of Open Science (Science 2.0) is an aim of the Latvian presidency by widening the debate on fostering the quality and excellence of European science through the digital dimension. It is seeking broader discussion on developing an integrated and comprehensive EU Space Strategy, promoting the joint effort of individual Member States and EU policy instruments. The Galileo and Copernicus Programmes are expected to create substantial market opportunities for European industry and SMEs by developing downstream services and applications, which require continuous and sustained access to data. This requires further discussion of high resolution Earth observation satellite data (HRSD) to facilitate fair and reliable access and free circulation of data throughout the EU.