Brussels, 17/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 19 September, the European Commission will be approving a communication aiming to ensure full implementation of the Galileo project. The EU's satellite navigation programme had got bogged down due to the reluctance of industrialists to take certain risks. Following endless prevarication, the European Commission had to abandon its plans for a public private partnership to fund the scheme and in a few days' time it will be suggesting public financing in order to allow Galileo to become operational in 2013, three years later than scheduled.
In the communication to be adopted on Wednesday, the European Commission again highlights the importance of bringing Galileo to realisation. Commissioner Jacques Barrot's services also stress the development of the EGNOS programmes ahead of the introduction of Galileo. EGNOS is the system that GPS in Europe is based upon, and its development should allow the pre-figuration of operations for applications of Galileo in the future. According to DG Transport's calculations, the construction and sending into orbit of the 26 further satellites required to complete Galileo (the first four satellites - IOV - and corresponding land infrastructure have already been funded 50-50 by the European Space Agency and the general EU budget to the tune of €1.5 billion in total) and the ground and operations infrastructure for EGNOS over the 2008-2013 period would cost €3.4 billion. The financial perspectives for 2007-2013 only earmark a billion euros for satellite navigation, which means that €2.4 billion still needs to be found. The Commission has assessed the two funding options, namely using the general budget or calling for additional funding from the member states which are involved in the European Space Agency (ESA). On Wednesday, the Commission is expected to suggest revising the financial perspectives to take account of unforeseen circumstances, as set out in the interinstitutional agreement. Since the total will be below 0.3% of the EU's GDP, the decision can be taken by the two arms of the budget authority with the Council deciding by a qualified majority vote. The Commission has moved away from the idea of intergovernmental funding for several reasons - the ESA member states are not the same as the EU member states; the EU's budget authority has no control over ESA funding, a fact which is not appreciated by the European Parliament; and there is the permanent risk of conflicts of interest if ESA both provides the funding and is the prime contractor managing the project.
For the development of EGNOS/Galileo applications, coordination with the GMES surveillance system of the environment and security, and rapidly bringing SMEs on board for these developments, the Commission will suggest strengthening the mandate and resources of the Galileo Surveillance Authority (GSA). It will invite the Council and Parliament to approve a new public management system as soon as possible for European programmes of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), giving the Commission the role of project manager and contracting authority, beefing up the role of the GSA in developing the market and operating and licence systems, giving ESA a role as contracting authority, and regular reporting to the Council and Parliament. The Commission wants this political decision to be made before the end of the year, followed by adoption of the decision revising the financial perspectives and the decision on the funding of the GNSS programmes in March 2008. On this basis, the launch of the satellites would start up again in the autumn of 2009 and Galileo would finally come into operation in the first six months of 2012. This means that all being well, the European satellite navigation system could be fully operational in the middle of 2013.
The Commission remains convinced of the importance of the global market (forecast to be worth some €450 billion in 2025) currently being developed for satellite navigation programmes. It believes that European countries could account for a third of this market. Member states should also benefit because VAT receipts on GNSS receivers sold in the European Union should exceed €500 million in 2007. In addition to operating revenue, Galileo should speed up the development of the EU's satellite navigation industry and provide precious backing to a wide range of public services (traffic management, rescue operations, the fire brigade, ambulances, air traffic control and the monitoring of shipping. (oj)