European Commission vice-president and commissioner for transport Jacques Barrot wants the European Union to pay for the deployment of the Galileo satellite navigation programme constellation, writes Rob Coppinger.
Originally the €2 billion deployment funding was to come from the industrial consortium that has been negotiating for the concession contract to manage the 30 satellites.
A lack of progress in agreeing a contract with the industrial consortium, now represented by the Galileo Operating Company (GOC), led to the EU's council of transport ministers, on 22 March, asking the EC for a report on progress made, consortium negotiations and alternative scenarios for deployment.
"The Commission's conclusion is that...the involvement of the private sector at an early stage will not enable the project to be completed [by 2012]. The Commission shows that the...most economic option will be for all the initial infrastructure to be put in place while being piloted and financed by the public sector. The operation of the system will be entrusted to a private concession holder," says the EC.
In last week's statement the EC called on EU member states to take the policy, finance and programme management decisions to meet the needs of satellite navigation market users. Barrot added that navigation-related service providers needed to be confident that Galileo would start in 2012. The programme was originally scheduled to start in 2008.
The next EU council of transport ministers meeting is in the first week of June and the EU's heads of states' European Council has a summit later that month. However a final decision is not expected until the third quarter at least (Flight International, 15-21 May).
Source: Flight International
