Brussels, 28/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - By dint of a certain amount of budgetary juggling, the European Space Agency (ESA) has succeeded in finding a solution to unblock the second phase of the European satellite radio-navigation project, Galileo. Meeting in Paris on Friday, the industrial policy committee and the programme committee of ESA approved the budgets and the contract corresponding to the development phase, which includes the launch for satellites. This is the interim phase between the launch of the two first experimental satellites (one by the end of the year, the other early in 2006) and that of the 26 further satellites of the constellation, which will be paid for by the concession-holder.
Of a budget of 1.2 billion EUR, 400 million were missing at this stage, which the various Member States had been reluctant to hand over, preferring instead to maintain a pressure tool to guarantee certain results from the project. In this way, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom hope to be able either to host the headquarters of the concession-holder, or to install a control centre, or the headquarters of the surveillance authority, which is currently in Brussels. These, amongst other things, are to be resolved by Karel Van Miert, former European Commissioner for Competition, who was appointed on Tuesday to resolve this situation and various industrial matters (EUROPE 9056).
Of the missing 400 million, the ESA and the European Commission have managed to find half, but 200 million are still required, which must be found during the course of 2006. This is not a problem at the moment, as various expenses, such as the purchase of launchers, do not need to be resolved immediately. For the main part, the sums were found by delaying the funding of less priority activities. For a project of this scale, the solution appears to be a weighty one. It was dictated by the timetable which Galileo will continue to respect, by the skin of its teeth.