Brussels, 06/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission can apparently count on support of the European Parliament over the funding of Galileo. At an exchange of views on Tuesday 5 June in the sub-committee “Defence” of the European Parliament, the MEPs stated that the funding of the Galileo project out of the Community budget, as proposed by the Commission, may help to avoid additional delays in the development of the project.
“We should not be calling the whole of the programme into question, but getting over current difficulties with it”, said Etelka Barsi-Pataki, former Parliament rapporteur on Galileo, referring to the breakdown of talks with the private consortium originally responsible for the funding of a major part of the project (€2.4 billion out of the €3.4 billion budgeted for the years 2007-2013). She said that there was a consensus between the Commission, Council and the EP on the need for public funding of the project. The funding of this missing €2.4 billion out of the budget of the European Space Agency (ESA) would, however, not be a solution, according to the MEPs of the EP sub-committee Defence, because they feel that such a procedure may run the risk of causing more delays in the implementation of Galileo. However, funding the project out of the EU budget would grant the European Parliament rights of control over this major project, of which many MEPs have stressed the “major importance for the EU”, both strategically and economically. Another argument in favour of Community funding was stressed on Tuesday by the European Commission itself, whose representative attending the meeting of the EP sub-committee noted that “for the first time, the EU will be investing in a genuinely joint infrastructure”, which belongs to the whole of the EU, not just a few member states.
The debate also focused on possible military applications of the satellite navigation system, with several MEPs reiterating the role which Galileo may one day play in the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), for example for monitoring the positioning of EU battle groups (BT-1500), or in case of natural disasters.
The budget committee of the EP is to adopt a resolution in favour of the public funding of Galileo at its next meeting, on 11 June. (aby)