EC Proposes to Control Galileo GPS, Financed Only by EU

Public financing emerged earlier this year (CD May 17 p6). EU governments delayed until fall a decision on whether to continue the program and how to fund it (CD June 7 p9).

The EC maintains that Galileo matters to Europe’s strategic autonomy, Barrot told a press event. The network also is needed for telecommunications, finance, public safety, air and sea activities and traffic control, he said. Galileo will benefit all member states because EU companies will add value through promising applications, he said.

The plan is for the public sector to pay to get the project running, after which the private sector will take over, Barrot said. A billion euros are available, with 2.4 billion euros more needed to fund Galileo and the existing European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, a three-satellite network. The agriculture budget has a margin of around 2.5 billion euros for Galileo, he said. He stressed that margins are “virtual money,” amounts committed to uses above and beyond budget needs. Agricultural margins can shift to Galileo without hurting other programs, he said.

But “there is a taboo” attached to revising margins, as national officials believe that unused money should revert to them when the current funding cycle ends in 2013, Barrot said. Getting governments to use the money for Galileo is essential to the system’s success, he said. The EC also must balance fair distribution of work among European space industries and ensuring the competition required when public funds are used, he said. And applications must be developed that make use of the satellite system.

Barrot was asked if he has discussed the financing proposal with nations that may not be enthusiastic. The EC isn’t saying this will be “an easy business in the Council,” he said. Ministers hoping for a rebate at the financial cycle’s end must be persuaded, he said. But many states have gotten the message that Galileo is a major project, and that it does have European Parliament support, he said.

Using European Community money will enhance governance of Galileo, Barrot said. The EC wants political oversight by the Council of Ministers and Parliament, program oversight by a European Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Program Committee, and full management by the EC. The European Space Agency would handle procurement and serve as prime contractor, with the GNSS Supervisory Authority readying markets for Galileo services, among other jobs.

Doubts about the need for Galileo remain. Barrot was asked if consumers want the services it will offer. Europe has made real technological progress on the system, to the tune of 2 billion euros, and it would be a shame to lose the knowhow gained, he said. Europe must be effective in space and the way to do that is to have its own satellite system, he said.

If you ask consumers why they like global positioning satellite services, and tell them Galileo will give them better quality than they get now, why wouldn’t they use it? Barrot said. Europe doesn’t want to continue to depend on the U.S. for such services, he said. A recent Eurobarometer survey found 80 percent of Europeans favoring an independent satellite navigation system, with over 60 percent willing to spend public funds.

The U.K. Department for Transport will scrutinize the proposal, to be discussed Oct. 1-2, when transport ministers meet, a spokeswoman said. Any solution must fit the EU budget and have a clear management structure in which member states play an appropriate role, she said.

If there’s political agreement on funding by year- end, Galileo could be in operation by mid-2013, the EC said.