Brussels, 12/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - While the president of the European Commission is "extremely concerned about the future of the Galileo programme", the EU15 finance ministers discussed, on Monday, the financing of this project in what was just an information point from the Commission, assured the Council Presidency. Mr Prodi expressed his concern in a letter written at the end of February to Göran Persson, requesting that the Stockholm Summit give the go-ahead to the second phase in this European satellite navigation project. Mr Prodi also proposes that the unique management and development structure of Galileo, which has still not been created, should be a joint undertaking which would group together the States that wish to go beyond their participation in the EU budget. With the Summit's go-ahead, the creation of this venture could be decided in just a few weeks, he assures. Intended to be operational in 2008, after EUR 3.25 billion investment, the Galileo programme is for now pending the decision for the launching of the development-validation phase, with several Member States - Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands especially - demanding details and guarantees concerning the financing of the project. Mr Prodi denounces the request by some Member States for the financing by the private sector of the deployment phase after 2005 to be secured now, whereas industry expects a firm signal before showing itself, and because it is known that private funding is only necessary for the deployment phase.
In a letter of quite a different tone, written a few days later, Gerrit Zalm, Dutch Finance Minister, expressing "concern" about the financing of Galileo, told the Ecofin Council that he doubts the project will be continued. "If the private sector is not willing to invest in Galileo we should seriously doubt its cost-effectiveness and its profitability and should think twice before going ahead with this projects", he writes, noting that, so far, no interest has been shown in this by the private sector.
Galileo will also be used for military purposes, French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius told the press. This declaration runs counter to what the European Commission has always affirmed, namely that Galileo would be a solely used for civilian purposes.