German Radio, Europe's showcase satellite navigation network Galileo needs major funding to be developed further. EU sources have said unused farm funds could come to the rescue, while critics are questioning the system's purpose.
The European Commission will announce how to provide the estimated 2.4 billion euros ($3.3 billion) of funding needed for the Galileo satellite navigation network on Wednesday, Sept. 19.
According to EU sources cited by AFP news agency, unused funds from the Common Agricultural Policy for 2007 and 2008 could foot the bill.
“For us, it's not time for more options, but for decisions,” AFP quoted European Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot. “If no decision is made before the end of December, including for financing, the whole project will be placed in jeopardy.”
Barrot did not provide details of the Commission's proposals to finance the project in the 2007-2013 period. Earlier this year, EU transportation ministers conceded that they had failed to secure the necessary financing from private companies.
Eutelsat expresses interest in Galileo
The original financing plan recommended that public money pay for the first four satellites. A private consortium of companies building the satellites were then to pay for two-thirds of the 26 remaining satellites.
The French satellite group Eutelsat said it intended to step into the Galileo project. “Eutelsat is ideally suited to plan and provide the fleet of 26 satellites for Galileo,” chief executive Giuliano Berretta told the German business daily Handelsblatt on Tuesday.
Berretta said Eutelsat already implemented specific elements of Galileo, for example through its Europe-wide navigation system for trucks, Euteltracs. “We do not want to take on a leading role in Galileo,” Berretta said. “But we're offering to play an active role in order to avoid further delays.”
Contributions could bring guaranteed contracts
The EU would prefer communal funding by all member states, but sources said an alternative proposal suggested that the EU governments involved in the project would make additional contributions.
Germany, whose industry plays a major role in Galileo, strongly supported this alternative approach. Yet France felt it leaned too heavily on the public purse.
A further financing model involved the European Space Agency (ESA), which is expected to manage the entire project under Brussels' supervision. This plan proposed ESA put forward half of the funding, with interested member states covering the other half. Contributing countries would then be guaranteed contracts for their industry companies.
ESA includes 17 countries — 15 members of the EU, plus Switzerland and Norway.
Critics question Galileo's purpose
Galileo is intended as an independent, European alternative to the American global positioning system (GPS). Yet while the US system, run by the Defense Department, is offered free of charge to businesses, Galileo intends to charge its users.
Galileo is expected to be up and running by the end of 2012. But cost problems, as well as disagreements between private contractors, have stalled progress.
Critics have warned that the costs could keep rising and have questioned the logic of imitating the existing, free US service. At the same time, the US is updating GPS, which is already used widely in cars, boats and planes.
Russia and China have also been working on getting similar satellite navigation projects off the ground.
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