President Bronislaw Komorowski has ratified Poland\'s 2014 membership agreement with the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Membership in ESO will give Polish researchers access to modern space observation systems.
Poland signed the agreement with ESO in October 2014. In March 2015 the Polish parliament unanimously passed its ratification. President Komorowski ratified the act on April 10 of this year.
Deputy Science Minister Wlodzislaw Duch noted that membership in ESO will enable Polish scientists to participate in ESO scholarship programmes and access the organisation\'s research base.
Founded in 1962, ESO affiliates 14 European countries and Brazil. ESO\'s main task is space observation, for which the organisation constructs huge telescopes which its members could not afford to build alone.
Poland\'s entry contribution to ESO will be EUR 29.5 million. Poland will also pay an annual membership fee. The fee for 2015 is estimated at EUR 3.35.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland
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