Strasbourg, 26/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament has adopted a resolution submitted by Angelika Niebler (CSU) on behalf of the industry committee, and expressed its deep concern at the slowing down of negotiations for the Galileo franchise contract over the last several months, and about the overall cost implications for the project.
Parliament welcomed the letter from European Commission Vice President with responsibility for Galileo Jacques Barrot and the conclusions of the Transport Council of 22 March 2007, and stressed the importance of the parties involved implementing the decisions of December 2005 (the so-called “van Miert agreement”). It stressed that the Council, Parliament, Commission and EU advisory bodies overwhelmingly supported the clear mandate given to Mr Barrot, who must submit to the June Council: (a) a credible roadmap for coming to contractual conclusions as soon as possible; (b) possible options for securing long-term financial obligations; (c) a scenario for the earliest possible provision of EGNOS satellite navigation services; and (d) alternative, particularly cost, risk and affordability, scenarios for the accomplishment of the programme. The Parliament called on the Commission to speed up the legislation on the regulated market, based on its Green Paper on satellite navigation systems, in order to be able to draw up a credible business plan. It called on the Commission to bring forward two progress reports: one by mid-July and another well before negotiations reach the point when a revised proposal for a modified legal base for financing the Galileo Programme is made available. (oj)