Estonia became EUMETSAT’s latest Member State, following the signature of the accession agreement on 14 December 2011 and the recent completion of the ratification process.
As a Member State, Estonia will be fully involved in the strategic decisions of EUMETSAT’s ruling Council and did in fact already participate in the 78th session of the EUMETSAT Council which took place in Darmstadt on 25 and 26 of June.
Also, its industry will be able to bid for contracts, in addition to Estonia obtaining unlimited access to all EUMETSAT data and products for official duty use.The EUMETSAT Director-General, Alain Ratier, said: “I am very pleased that Estonia has achieved the transition and welcome EUMETSAT’s 27th Member State.”
EUMETSAT Director-General, Alain Ratier, together with Ms.Ene Ergma, President of the Riigikogu, the Estonian parliament, at the flag-raising ceremony
Ms.Ene Ergma, President of the Riigikogu, the Estonian parliament, said: “Accession to EUMETSAT ensures the capability of the Estonian National Weather Service to provide weather forecasts of the highest standard. From now on, Estonia is not merely a passive consumer of the satellite information, but we also have the opportunity to participate in the development of new technologies and their implementation.”
Jalmar Mandel, Director-General of the Estonian Environment Agency, added: “Estonia is a small country, but it is important that more and more stakeholders with different capacities get involved in the development of contemporary meteorological systems.”
The Estonian flag (shown on right side) was raised during a ceremony at EUMETSAT headquarters in Darmstadt in the presence of Ms Ene Ergma and Alain Ratier as well as heads of delegations and delegates from the EUMETSAT Member States.
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites is an intergovernmental organisation based in Darmstadt, Germany, currently with 27 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom) and four Cooperating States (Bulgaria, Iceland, Lithuania, and Serbia).
EUMETSAT operates the geostationary satellites Meteosat-8, -9 and -10 over Europe and Africa, and Meteosat-7 over the Indian Ocean.
The Metop-B polar-orbiting meteorological satellite, launched on 17 September 2012, became prime operational satellite on 24 April 2013. It replaced Metop-A, the first European polar-orbiting meteorological satellite, which was launched in October 2006. Metop-A will continue operations as long as its available capacities bring benefits to users. The Jason-2 ocean altimetry satellite, launched on 20 June 2008, added monitoring of sea state, ocean currents and sea level change to the missions EUMETSAT conducts.
The data and products from EUMETSAT’s satellites are vital to weather forecasting and make a significant contribution to the monitoring of environment and the global climate.
