Barrot seeks funding deal as Galileo heads for black hole

Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot faces a protracted battle in his bid to secure funding for ailing satellite navigation system Galileo. Future proposals for funding are expected to meet resistance from the European Parliament and sceptical member states.

Barrot announced last week (16 May) that taxpayers will bear the entire cost of Galileo, estimated at €3.2 billion. On 10 May an eight-member consortium of companies charged with construction of the project had reneged on promises to foot two-thirds of the bill.

According to an EU source, Barrot is expected to issue firm proposals for funding in September. Transport ministers will analyse the current state of the project at a meeting next month (7-8 June), providing pointers on whether the ceiling of the EU’s seven-year budget plan (2007-13), the so-called financial perspectives, should be raised or whether individual contributions should be paid by member states.

Questions on possible complications arising from a Community solution were raised in a confidential meeting of the Parliament’s budget committee yesterday. Should a Community solution be sought, Barrot could open the door to a raft of parliamentary revisions of the coming year’s budget, MEPs said. Questions on Parliament’s role in approving the plan were also raised.

The UK, Denmark and the Netherlands are expected to mount strong opposition to any increases in public funding. Detractors claim that the free availability of the US rival system GPS makes it difficult to see how investments in Galileo could be recouped.

Development of Galileo’s military capabilities, hinted at by Barrot last week, could foster support for public funding among countries such as France, which want to reduce Europe’s dependence on GPS. The UK, however, would defy any moves that might change its association with the US. The latter allows NATO countries to use GPS’s encrypted frequencies for military purposes.

Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot faces a protracted battle in his bid to secure funding for ailing satellite navigation system Galileo. Future proposals for funding are expected to meet resistance from the European Parliament and sceptical member states.