EU Lawmakers Seen Embracing Compromise on Satellite System Galileo
The European Parliament seems ready to approve a plan to jump-start the Galileo satellite radio navigation system. Lawmakers vote Wednesday on a compromise negotiated with the European Commission and Council of Ministers. Judging from Tuesday’s debate, most strongly favor it. Enthusiasm for the project was tempered by acknowledgement that Galileo is years behind schedule for lack of a public-private partnership with Europe’s space industry.
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Last year, the EC proposed taking control of the project and funding Galileo’s deployment phase with taxpayer funds to the tune of 3.4 billion euros ($5.4 billion) (CD Sept 20 p13). The U.K. bristled (CD Nov 14 p14), but eventually transport ministers accepted that approach. The system is expected to be built by 2013.
The European Parliament Industry Committee led on vetting the EC plan, April 8 approving compromise language defining security mandates and procurement rules for launch of Galileo’s 30 satellites and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System. Deployment will be managed by the EC, with the European Global Navigation Satellite System Authority handling safety accreditation and the European Space Agency as prime contractor, the panel said.
The agreement creates an inter-institutional body with representatives of the EC, parliament and council to oversee progress, the committee said. The agreement postpones until later a final decision on a public-private partnership to operate services on Galileo after 2013, the committee said. Galileo will not see military use, and any modification that undermines its civil nature will need more legislation, Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot told lawmakers during the debate.
MEPs stressed that the program is the first European Community-owned infrastructure and said that despite the U.S. Global Positioning Satellite system’s availability, and that of a system in Russia, Europe needs an independent set-up. Galileo will bring jobs for Europeans and procurement rules will help small-to-mid-sized businesses, Industry Committee Chairman Angelika Neibler (European People’s Party/European Democrats) said Tuesday.
Galileo failed as a public-private partnership, several legislators said, urging strict oversight of the revised program. “European credibility is on the line,” said French MEP Anne Laperrouze (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe). Galileo is “an ambitious and costly project” seen by some as controversial but one that should get going as soon as possible, said Czech Republic MEP Vladimir Remek of the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left. Once Galileo is launched, private industry will want to become involved, he said.
Europe’s satellite navigation system is “an unmitigated disaster,"said U.K. MEP Jeffrey Titford, of the Independence/Democracy Group. Industry quit the original plan out of that awareness but the EU refused to pay heed, he said. Galileo is only being pushed because the U.S. has a satnav system and Europe wants one, he said. And, he said, Galileo is “environmentally corrupt” thanks to its 30 satellites’ carbon footprint.
The EC plans to sign an agreement with the European Space Agency before summer to permit issuance of bid tenders for the six major chunks of deployment work, Barrot said. Contracts could be signed by year-end for building the remaining 26 satellites, estimated to take two to three years, he said. Galileo’s second test satellite, GIOVE-B, will launch April 27 from the Soyuz spaceport in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Barrot said.