Brussels, 11/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - Discussing the funding of the European satellite navigation system Galileo on Tuesday, most of the ministers at the ECOFIN Council argued that the financial perspectives (budget) talks should not be resumed to find suitable funding for Galileo. Member states which intervened in the debate along the lines of not increasing the EU's total budget, but finding the extra funding for Galileo within the current budget, included the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France and Finland. Poland rejected the idea of any extra charge on member states but also rejected any amendment of the totals of the headings of the financial perspectives. Poland would like the funding to come from the competitiveness heading where action to boost R&D and innovation is covered. Denmark is not happy about this because it may serve to the detriment of research. Romania and Italy said it was better not to second guess the extra funding requirements but to wait for the European Commission's impact assessment. Italy suggested that the European Investment Bank could provide some funding. Luxembourg said the EU could not run the risk of sitting on its heels and risking failure of the project. EU finance ministers will discuss the issue again if necessary but the ball is now in the transport ministers' court. (ab)