On Thursday 5 February, the Commission launched the mid-term evaluation of the creation and operation of the European satellite navigation programmes (Regulation 1285/2013), covering the Galileo and EGNOS programmes and the GNSS agency responsible for the two programmes.
The evaluation will cover both of the European navigation programmes, Galileo, which launched its first services in December (see EUROPE 11689) and EGNOS, which improves the performance of the American navigation programme on European soil. More specifically, it will look at the deployment of their infrastructure, service level (availability of services), costs incurred, compliance with timetable and the level of market penetration (in the case of Galileo, the number of receivers). The European agency GNSS, which is based in Prague (Czech Republic), will also be assessed on the basis of five criteria (relevance, coherence, efficiency, effectiveness and European added value).
This mid-term evaluation aims to reinforce the effectiveness of the European space programmes and responds to calls from the European Parliament (see EUROPE 10396) and the Council (see EUROPE 10347) to avoid the cost overruns and delays which have affected both programmes in the past (see EUROPE 11139).
Under the regulation, the Commission is required to present this assessment to the European Parliament and the Council by 30 June 2017. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)