Brussels, 17/06/2013 (Agence Europe) -European Commissioner for Industry Antonio Tajani and French Minister for European Affairs Thierry Repentin have signed an agreement on the functioning of the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (GSMC). This agreement confirms that the European GNSS agency will use the centre and France provide the necessary facilities and introduce measures to ensure that its mission is sustained. The centre is based at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France and will supervise the security of the Galileo programme system and satellite navigation services. It will also play an important role in the management of access to the regulated public service, one of the five services to be provided by Galileo which will be used by authorised secured users (police, customs, defence applications, civil protection, etc.).
Tajani pointed out that “the Security Monitoring Centre is a vital?component of the Galileo infrastructure as it will ensure the security of?Europe's navigation system. Today's agreement with France is a further?milestone towards the launch of early services next year”. (MD/transl.fl)