Brussels, 15/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - Given the lack of progress in negotiations setting up a concession contract for a Galileo Operating Company and the appointment of its executive director (see EUROPE 9374), Commission Vice-President with responsibility for transport Jacques Barrot on Wednesday 14 March sent a letter to German Federal Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee and to the other members of the consortium. He has set up a firm deadline for the operator to be in place by 10 May and negotiations completed by September.
In his letter, Mr Barrot undertakes, firstly, to provide the June Council with an assessment “as to whether the current negotiations can reasonably be completed” and if so, “under which conditions”, and, secondly, to prepare “an assessment of reasonable alternatives”. “The June Transport Council should then be in a clear position to decide on the course of the Galileo project.” To do so, and faced with the risk of not completing the project on time and of greatly increased costs, resulting from the lack of progress, the commissioner has called on the eight companies which form the consortium to set up a Galileo Operating Company and appoint an executive director (who would be able to speak for the company and commit to projects without being challenged by shareholders) before 10 May 2007 and to engage in writing the Galileo Operating Company on a negotiating schedule for the coming months that will allow for signature of the Heads of Terms by 15 September at the latest.
Earlier in the week, at the Munich Satellite Navigation summit, Pedro Pedreira, Executive Director of the GSA (the supervisory authority on this programme), regretted that “an entity that is offered the exclusive opportunity of a long-term concession non-competitive process is not even able to present its own terms for such a unique deal”. Trying to find the reasons for this, Mr Pedreira said he was sure that it was the “individual interests” of the members of the consortium and “the expectations that the industrial members of the consortium have for alternative procurement scenarios that could offer much more favourable terms for them, such as the term they had enjoyed for the development phase” (which were financed jointly by the EU and the European Space Agency: Ed.). (aby)