EUTELSAT (European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation) was created in 1977 by 17 European countries, members of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations, (CEPT), with the purpose of operating a European telecommunications satellite system. Its constitutive text, the EUTELSAT Convention, was opened for signature in July 1982 and entered into force on 1 September 1985. By 2001, 48 European States were Parties to the EUTELSAT Convention.
On 2 July 2001, all assets, operational activities and related obligations and liabilities of the Organisation were transferred to Eutelsat S.A., a company established for this purpose and operating under French law.
The Intergovernmental Organisation was maintained to ensure that Eutelsat S.A. observes the following basic principles:
A previous question concerning this company with respect to the communist China was tabled in 2008 (Docs 11695 and 11765).
The present question refers to the closing down of the "First Caucasian Channel” which broadcasts by a satellite owned and operated by EUTELSAT (the relevant facts concerning this dossier can be found in http://www.informationdissemination.net/2010/01 /mistral-sale-and-russian-information.html).
Mr Lindblad,
To ask the Committee of Ministers
Whether it intends to act in this issue as the highest decision-making body of the Council of Europe?