Brussels, 05/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament expresses concern over the difficulties raised by the financing and the management of the European project Galileo for satellite navigation. The report by Brigitte Langenhagen (CDU), adopted in plenary this week, expresses the concerns of the EP on the subject of the financial viability of the project. It calls on the Commission to make every effort to convince Member States and persuade the private sector to contribute sufficiently at every stage of the project. The EP calls on the Commission to establish by 15 November a proposal for a general Galileo financing structure, as well as a precise table of possible revenue flows. It also calls on the Commission for details concerning the common enterprise project. "We arrive late. Time and, above all the Galileo project, is slipping away from us. The more the EU hesitates, the more industry will lose interest, and the final danger is that Galileo may one day be a project that is dead and buried", warned Ms Langenhagen. The EU needs its own "civil" system, "open to all potential users", she repeated, considering that it would be "surprising" for the EU to be able to accept the "monopoly" of the United States, holders of the GPs. If the EU gives up the idea of having its own system, this will have "massive" negative repercussions in the high tech sector, and will entail considerable job losses. On the other hand, with Galileo, one can foresee that, over the next few years, up to 100,000 new jobs will be generated, says the German MEP.
Council debate on the creation of a joint enterprise
The European Commission's proposal to create a joint enterprise that associates it to the European Space Agency (ESA) and the private sector for managing the development and launch of Galileo is under discussion (see EUROPE of 20 July, p.10). The Fifteen will hold a debate during the Transport Council of 16 October in the hope of "unblocking the decision on the joint undertaking for the end of the year", Presidency sources stress. Ministers must answer three questions:
- How much will private participation on the Galileo administrative board be? The Commission proposed one third of the votes for the Commission, one third for the ESA and one third for the private sector. Germany and the United Kingdom do not want to give any votes to the private sector, and insist on participation by Member States.
- What will be the Member States' participation on the administrative board? Three options are envisaged: one representative per country on the administrative board; draft decisions must be submitted to a surveillance committee before going on to the administrative board; or the Commission must make an annual report on activity and direction to a committee of experts.
- What kind of cooperation will there be with ESA? Discussions are mainly on the fact that, within the ESA, preference is given to attributing contracts to the industries of member countries. How would this rule work within a common enterprise? Some Member States would question the fact that the ESA contribution to the development phase (EUR 550 million) goes entirely though the joint undertaking.