Brussels, 27/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The EU's Permanent Representatives will be attempting to reach agreement on Wednesday on funding for the Galileo satellite navigation project and whether it should be restricted to civil applications of not, with a view to finalising the resolution to be adopted by the Transport Council 5 April when it launches the second phase of Galileo. These are the only problem areas in the resolution, which insiders suggest will be agreed by the Council without difficulty.
Member States are split over the issue of military versus civil applications. Various countries want assurances that Galileo will not be used by the military (Scandinavian countries, the United Kingdom and particularly the Netherlands, which wants the resolution to expressly outlaw military use according to reliable sources). Other countries, such as France, do not want to write off the possibility of military applications. Presidency sources suggest that an agreement is likely to be hammered out which does not go into detail on possible military use but will stress that Galileo is a civil system run by civil navigation experts.
The December 2000 Transport Council failed to launch the second phase of Galileo following disagreements over funding. Since then, the European Commission has managed to get industry to make an undertaking (see EUROPE of 23 March, page 7) to provide finance and the Stockholm European Summit called for the second stage to be launched, explaining that contributions from the private sector were expected for the third phase of Galileo.